President holds talks with Ugandan counterpart

President Nguyen welcomed the first visit of a head of state of Uganda since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1973, regarding this as an important milestone, which would contribute to developing the friendship and cooperation of the two countries.

He praised the achievements the Government and people of Uganda have attained in political stability, socio-economic development, reponse to the COVID-19 pandemic and Ebola outbreak. 

He congratulated and expected that Uganda would successfully implement Uganda Vision 2040 and host the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 2023 as well as fulfilling its role as the NAM Chair for the 2023-2026 term.

President Nguyen suggested Uganda create favourable conditions for the export and import of commodities that are strengths of each side, including cotton and wood of Uganda; and food, garment and textiles, construction materials, means of transport and components, and telecoms equipment of Viet Nam.

In reply, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni congratulated Viet Nam on successfully assuming the role as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure, and its election to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term. 

He was convinced that Viet Nam would maintain its effective contributions to the UN’s efforts to ensure peace, security and development.

The two leaders welcomed positive development of bilateral relations, with political-diplomatic ties maintained, and economic cooperation achieving encouraging results. The two-way trade turnover touched US$14.3 million in 2021, representing a year-on-year increase of 39.8 percent.  

They acknowledged that there are wide doors for bilateral cooperation, agreeing on specific orientations to further boost the ties. 

The two leaders underlined the importance of stepping up delegation exchanges and contacts in all channels, and maintaining coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums, particularly the UN and the NAM.  

The two leaders also emphasised the importance of agricultural cooperation, considering it one of the pillars of bilateral relations, with priority given to ensuring food security; and agreed to expand collaboration to education-training, information and communications, defence-security, health and tourism.

They also exchanged opinions on several regional and international issues of mutual concern, and shared the view of addressing these issues by peaceful means on the basis of upholding international law.

After their talks, the Presidents witnessed the signing of an agreement on visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders; and four memoranda of understanding on cooperation in diplomacy, education, information and communications, and agriculture technology./.