VNHNO - President Tran Dai Quang has emphasised Vietnam’s consistent policy of attaching importance to ties with African nations during his meeting with Acting President of the African Union (AU) Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil.
At his meeting on August 24, President Quang expressed his pleasure to visit the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the first time, and congratulated the union on the success of its summit held in June 2018, during which the union approved the establishment of an African free trade area.
He highly valued AU member countries’ determination in promoting the union’s reform toward a strong united community.
President Tran Dai Quang and Acting President of the African Union Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil. Image: VOV
The President spoke highly of the AU’s role and contributions to maintaining peace, security and stability in the continent and the world at large.
He said he wishes developing countries, including those in Africa, and Vietnam support each other to further increase their voice and influence in multilateral mechanisms like the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and South-South cooperation framework.
He asked African countries to back Vietnam’s candidacy to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021 tenure.
As a responsible member of the international community, Vietnam has sent officers to join the UN peacekeeping force in Africa, he said.
Highlighting considerable outcomes in cooperation between Vietnam and African countries, the President said Vietnam organised the Vietnam-Africa cooperation forums in 2003 and 2010 and carried out numerous cooperation projects in agriculture and fisheries in Africa, thus contributing to ensuring food security for African countries.
Many Vietnamese experts in health care, education and agriculture have been working in some African countries such as Angola and Mozambique, contributing to local socio-economic development.
He affirmed that Vietnam and Africa have always provided mutual support in the past and at present. Vietnam has officially set up diplomatic ties with 53 out of the 55 countries in Africa, he added.
For her part, Acting President of the AU Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil congratulated Vietnam on its strong steps of development while highly appreciating the country’s participation in the UN peacekeeping force, contributing to maintaining peace in Africa.
She highly valued cooperation between African countries and Vietnam in priority areas such as processing, agriculture, mining and tourism, while wishing that Vietnam would act as a bridge connecting with Asia, particularly Asia Southeast Asia.
The AU leader thanked Vietnam for supporting people of African countries via telecommunications technology, and said that the AU is willing to cooperate with Vietnam at multilateral forums, especially in the framework of the UN and the Francophonie.
During their meeting, both host and guest noted that trade value and investment between Vietnam and Africa is still modest, suggesting both sides should set up a regular dialogue mechanism in order to further strengthen coordination at international forums and protect the interests of developing countries.
They agreed to consider effective cooperation models and increase the exchange of information and experiences in areas of shared concern, such as peacekeeping in the framework of the UN, agricultural development, education, infrastructure, information technology and telecommunications, for the benefit of the Vietnamese and African people, thus contributing to prosperity and development in each region as well as in the world./.
