Seychelles treasures ties with Vietnam: President Faure

Pretoria (VNA) – Seychelles always treasures and wishes to promote friendship and cooperation with Vietnam, President of Seychelles Danny Faure said on September 17.

At a reception for Vietnamese Ambassador to Mozambique and Seychelles Le Huy Hoang, who came to present his credentials, in Victoria capital city, the President hailed achievements Vietnam has recorded in reform and international integration.

He called on Vietnam to continue sharing its experience with Seychelles in economic development, investment expansion and the development of small-and medium-sized enterprises.

The leader expressed his hope that the two countries will step up cooperation across spheres, and optimise their strength in tourism, telecommunications, fishery and maritime economy.

For his part, Ambassador Hoang affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to developing the friendship with Seychelles.

He thanked the African nation for its support to Vietnam’s candidacy as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2020-2021, and expressed hope that the two countries will further their mutual support at multilateral forums like the UN, the International Organisation of the Francophonie and the Non-Aligned Movement.

On this occasion, the ambassador paid a courtesy visit to Vice President and Foreign Minister of Seychelles Vincent Meriton who expressed his admiration for Vietnam’s development in many aspects.

He suggested Vietnam and Seychelles enhance cooperation at international forums.

During their meeting with Ambassador Hoang, Secretary of State for the Seychelles Ministry of Foreign Affair Barry Faure and other representatives of the ministry touched upon specific measures to boost bilateral collaboration in politics, diplomacy, economy, trade, maritime resource preservation and exploitation, tourism, agricultural development and aquaculture.

Meanwhile, Minister for Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning Maurice Loustau-Lalanne hoped that the two countries would forge their trade links, and promised to facilitate the penetration of Vietnamese goods and services in Seychelles.

Businesses should utilise the strength of the two countries to intensify their cooperation, he suggested.

Principal Secretary for Tourism Anne Lafortune talked about measures to strengthen tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Seychelles, including training and promotion activities.

She urged the two countries to soon complete procedures to cooperate in navigation and aviation transportation.

Ambassador Hoang and Dao Manh Duc, head of the Vietnamese Commercial Affairs Office in South Africa and Seychelles, proposed measures to step up the bilateral economic and trade ties such as the establishment of channels providing information about exports, imports, trade fairs and delegation exchanges.

They called on leaders of local ministries and agencies to create favourable conditions for Seychelles enterprises to operate in Vietnam, and make it easier for Vietnamese goods and labourers to enter the African nation./.