State President Truong Tan Sang and his spouse were welcomed by the Tanzanian minister of foreign affairs at the airport. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – State President Truong Tan Sang will seek ways to step up the traditional, multi-dimensional cooperation with Tanzania during his State visit to the African country.
He will look for stronger connectivity, especially in trade, agriculture, infrastructure, telecommunications and tourism during the trip from March 9-11.
Regional and international issues of shared concern are expected to crop up at his talks with Tanzanian President John Magufuli.
Vietnam and Tanzania set up their diplomatic ties on February 14, 1965.
In 2014, trade between the two countries hit 156 million USD, 105 million USD of which is from Vietnamese imports, with half going to raw cashews. The figure rose to 204 million USD in 2015.
Tanzania is currently the second largest importer of Vietnamese rice, following the Philippines.
The country licenced Vietnam’s military-run Viettel telecom group to provide a mobile phone service called Halotel since October, 2015.
The trade value, however, remains modest, though the two countries signed a trade agreement in 2001; a cooperation agreement in economics, trade, science and technology in 2004; and an agreement on visa exemption for holders of official and diplomatic passports in 2010.
Tanzania showed its willingness to cooperate with Vietnam in agriculture and aquaculture with Vietnam’s expertise.
It also wished to welcome Vietnamese enterprises’ investment in the manufacturing of small farming machines for local consumption and export.
The two countries are negotiating an agreement on double taxation avoidance.
Cooperation potential between the two countries hasn’t been fully tapped yet, so President Truong Tan Sang’s visit is expected to produce productive ways to boost it.-VNA
