President Tran Dai Quang (L) meets Acting President of the African Union (AU) Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil (Photo: VNA) At his meeting on August 24, President Quang expressed his pleasure to visitthe AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the first time, andcongratulated the union on the success of its summit held in June 2018, duringwhich the union approved the establishment of an African free trade area.
He highly valued AU member countries’ determination in promoting the union’sreform toward a strong united community.
The President spoke highly of the AU’s role and contributions to maintainingpeace, security and stability in the continent and the world at large.
He said he wishes developing countries, including those in Africa, and Vietnamsupport each other to further increase their voice and influence inmultilateral mechanisms like the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) andSouth-South cooperation framework.
He asked African countries to back Vietnam’s candidacy to become anon-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021 tenure.
As a responsible member of the international community, Vietnam has sent officersto join the UN peacekeeping force in Africa, he said.
Highlighting considerable outcomes in cooperation between Vietnam and Africancountries, the President said Vietnam organised the Vietnam-Africa cooperationforums in 2003 and 2010 and carried out numerous cooperation projects inagriculture and fisheries in Africa, thus contributing to ensuring foodsecurity for African countries.
Many Vietnamese expertsin health care, education and agriculture have been working in some Africancountries such as Angola and Mozambique, contributing to local socio-economicdevelopment.
He affirmed that Vietnam and Africa have always provided mutual support in thepast and at present. Vietnam has officially set up diplomatic ties with 53 outof the 55 countries in Africa, he added.
For her part, Acting President of the AU Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadilcongratulated Vietnam on its strong steps of development while highlyappreciating the country’s participation in the UN peacekeeping force,contributing to maintaining peace in Africa.
She highly valued cooperation between African countries and Vietnam in priorityareas such as processing, agriculture, mining and tourism, while wishing thatVietnam would act as a bridge connecting with Asia, particularly Asia SoutheastAsia.
The AU leader thanked Vietnam for supporting people of African countries viatelecommunications technology, and said that the AU is willing to cooperatewith Vietnam at multilateral forums, especially in the framework of the UN andthe Francophonie.
During their meeting, both host and guest noted that trade value and investmentbetween Vietnam and Africa is still modest, suggesting both sides should set upa regular dialogue mechanism in order to further strengthen coordination atinternational forums and protect the interests of developing countries.
They agreed to consider effective cooperation models and increase the exchangeof information and experiences in areas of shared concern, such as peacekeepingin the framework of the UN, agricultural development, education,infrastructure, information technology and telecommunications, for the benefitof the Vietnamese and African people, thus contributing to prosperity anddevelopment in each region as well as in the world.-VNA
VNA
