Vietnam has become a promising destination for businesses, investors and tourists from South Africa , heard a seminar in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on October 30.

Speaking at the “Vietnam-South Africa trade and investment” seminar hosted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Can Tho branch, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Dao Anh Dung said Vietnam and South Africa boast a lot of strengths to further their comprehensive relationship, especially in economics and trade.

He said over the past two decades, bilateral ties have developed fruitfully in various areas ranging from politics, diplomacy to economics, culture, education and national security and defence.

An array of agreements and memoranda of understanding on economic and tourism cooperation have been signed by the two countries, he said, adding that Vietnam ’s exports to South Africa reached 630 million USD last year while South Africa shipped 120 million USD worth of goods to the Southeast Asian country.

Adriaan Du Pisiane, First Secretary at the South African Embassy in Vietnam , said infrastructure and services in his country have been evaluated as the best among those in developing nations, especially roads, sea ports, banking system, vessels and telecoms.

As the economic pillar of the entire Africa, South Africa’s economy has been ranked high among developing economies, even surpassing India , Italy and the United Arab Emirates , he said.

He described the mining industry as the country’s spearhead, noting that the South Africa is the world’s largest gold and platinum miner.

South Africa takes the lead in Africa in telecommunications and boasts strengths in ecological and archeological tourism, he said, adding that it is also one of the exporters of diverse goods to the UK, the US, Germany and Japan.

Farm produce processing, auto industry, transportation, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, bio-technology, mining, metallurgy, garment and textile, footwear, electronic industry and technology are areas of the country’s strengths.

South Africa has launched many programmes to attract foreign investors such as the Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) programme, the Critical Infrastructure Programme, the Technology and Human Resource for Industry Programme and the National Industry Participation Programme.-VNA