Pretoria (VNA) – Thenews agency of the South African Government on March 17 reported on the fourthmeeting of the South Africa-Vietnam Intergovernmental Partnership Forum inPretoria on March 14-15, underlining that the two countries had agreed to domore to enhance their trade ties.
The news agency quoted SouthAfrica’s Deputy Minister of InternationalRelations and Cooperation Reginah Mhaule as saying during the meetingthat the two sides should remove their marketbarriers.
The deputyminister also stressed the significance of bilateral cooperation in wildlifepreservation and protection.
On the Vietnamese side, DeputyForeign Minister Nguyen Quoc Cuong, who co-chaired the meeting with ReginahMhaule, lauded outcomes of the bilateralrelations, as reflected through the exchange of 14 high-level visits since thethird forum in Hanoi in 2015, particularly the visit to Vietnam by VicePresident Cyril Ramaphosa in 2016 and the South Africa visit by NationalAssembly Vice Chairman Do Ba Ty in 2017.
The official called on the two sides to step up their ties in defence andsecurity to elevate the relationship to a new high with mutual trust, while enhancinglinks in other fields.
The news agency also highlighted the discussion on new political developmentsin each country along with regional issues of shared concern during the forum.
Vietnam and South Africa set up diplomatic ties in December 1993. Bilateraltrade currently hits about 1 billion USD each year.-VNA
VNA