Dakar (VNA) - National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, his spouse Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga, and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation arrived in Dakar at 12:10 (local time) on July 22, beginning an official visit to the Republic of Senegal from July 22–24.
The top Vietnamese legislator and his entourage were welcomed at Blaise Diagne International Airport in Dakar by President of the Senegalese National Assembly El Malick Ndiaye, members of the Senegalese NA Standing Committee, Vietnamese Ambassador to Algeria and Senegal Tran Quoc Khanh, staff of the embassy and representatives of the Vietnamese community in Senegal.
Local people greeted the Vietnamese delegation with vibrant traditional dance performances. Immediately after the welcome ceremony, the two top legislators held a brief meeting.
This is the first official visit to Senegal by a key Vietnamese leader since the establishment of diplomatic ties nearly 60 years ago.
Vietnam and Senegal have maintained sound friendship and cooperation as well as coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, the Francophonie, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Economic cooperation has seen positive progress, with bilateral trade reaching 81.16 million USD in 2024, including 43.91 million USD worth of exports from Vietnam. In the first four months of this year alone, Vietnam's exports to Senegal hit 43.3 million USD, nearly reaching the total figure in 2024. Between 1997 and 2005, Vietnam sent more than 100 agricultural experts and technicians to work in Senegal under a tripartite agricultural cooperation programme sponsored by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which was highly appreciated by both FAO and the Senegalese side.
Parliamentary cooperation between Vietnam and Senegal has primarily taken place through multilateral frameworks such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF), as well as at multilateral conferences hosted by the Vietnamese NA. In January 2025, the First Vice-President of the Senegalese NA attended the APF Executive Committee meeting in Vietnam’s Can Tho city.
During his current official visit to Senegal, NA Chairman Man is scheduled to hold talks and meetings with top Senegalese leaders; attend a policy roundtable on promoting Vietnam–Senegal cooperation in agriculture, trade, and investment; and meet with staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and members of the Vietnamese and Vietnamese-origin community in Senegal.
This visit holds special significance in strengthening political trust, deepening friendship, providing momentum for multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, including inter-parliamentary ties, and creating legal frameworks for enhanced collaboration between the two governments and businesses in the time to come./.
