A broad range of cooperation fields will be discussed at the second Vietnam-Africa International Seminar, which is scheduled to open in the capital city of Hanoi on August 17.
With the theme of,“Vietnam-Africa: Cooperation for Mutually Sustainable Development”, the three-day seminar will draw a large number of representatives from Vietnam’s concerned ministries, agencies and businesses, as well as those from 22 African nations and companies, 15 international organisations, and scholars and researchers.
Host country Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is expected to attend and deliver a keynote address at the seminar.
High on the agenda will be food security, agricultural cooperation, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, trade and investment relations and human resources development.
The seminar will serve as an opportunity for Vietnam to put forth a roadmap to foster bilateral cooperation for mutually sustainable development in the next decade, including a legal framework, priority cooperation areas and concrete measures.
Despite geographical distance, the people of Vietnam and Africa have for a long time enjoyed a special friendship, which was built and nurtured by the late President Ho Chi Minh and African revolutionaries since the 1920s.
The African people always stood side by side and extended valuable support, both materially and spiritually, to their Vietnamese counterparts during past struggles against French and US aggressors.
After regaining national independence, Vietnam and African countries have continued to step up bilateral cooperation. In the context of international integration, the two sides have spared no efforts to boost their multifaceted cooperation and mutual assistance for development, and support each other at regional and international forums.
The African nations have applauded and accumulated knowledge from the great achievements Vietnam has reaped in the process of renewal and socio-economic development.
The two sides have increased the exchange of political visits, including those by high-ranking leaders, considering it one of the most effective ways of strengthening their traditional friendship and cooperation.
Vietnam has already established commercial relations with all of the 54 African countries. Bilateral trade has grown rapidly, from just 360 million USD in 2003 to 2 billion USD in 2008, double the target set in the 2004-2010 Action Programme.
Despite the adverse impacts of the global financial and economic crisis, two-way trade value reached 2.07 billion USD last year, of which 1.56 billion USD came from Vietnamese exports.
In addition to the ongoing multilateral cooperation projects jointly carried out by Vietnam-FAO-France-Mali; Vietnam-South Africa-Guinea; and Vietnam-Japan-Mozambique, Vietnam is working out bilateral cooperation projects with single African nations.
Those bilateral projects are designed to expand Vietnam’s cooperation in oil and gas with Algeria, Tunisia, Madagascar, Egypt, Angola and Libya; cooperation in agriculture, post-telecoms and energy with Angola and Mozambique; cooperation in labour with Libya; and possible cooperation in agriculture, livestock breeding, and oil and gas with Sudan.
However, cooperative relations between Vietnam and Africa remain limited, failing to catch up with the huge potential and desires of both sides. Therefore, enhancing the friendship and multifaceted cooperation with this continent is one of the top priorities in Vietnam’s foreign policy./.
