Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working trip to South Africa: Enhancing multilateral influence, ready for a historic bilateral milestone

For the first time, the G20 Summit was held in South Africa, Africa. (Source: News24)

Could you please share the atmosphere of the G20 Summit at this time and the focuses that the host country, South Africa, is aiming for?

In just a few days, the 2025 G20 Summit, hosted by South Africa, will be held in Johannesburg. Up to now, about 130 different large and small G20 conferences and meetings have taken place over the past year. The host country, South Africa, has been very active and invested significantly in this important event. This is the first time the G20 Summit has been held on African soil.

Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Hoang Sy Cuong. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in South Africa)

Therefore, this Conference is expected to have the mark of Africa, for Africa. With the theme “Solidarity, Equity and Sustainability”, the host country South Africa aims to promote the resolution of global challenges of poverty, inequality and emerging issues that countries need to cooperate to address.

The event will focus on four key areas: strengthening resilience and response to natural disasters; promoting sustainable debt management for low-income countries; mobilizing finance for a just energy transition and utilizing essential minerals for inclusive and sustainable growth.

Based on that overview, how does the Ambassador assess the participation of Vietnamese senior leaders at the G20 Summit as well as the "room" in which we can contribute to the common goal of the Summit?

The G20 is a forum that brings together the world's leading developed and emerging economies, including countries that currently account for more than 90% of global GDP. The forum was established to discuss and resolve important international economic and financial issues, but now the scope of discussion is broader and more inclusive.

The summit is expected to discuss a range of global issues, including sustainable development, and is expected to have a distinct African focus.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on the occasion of his State visit to Vietnam on October 23. (Photo: Jackie Chan)

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's participation will continue to affirm Vietnam's position as a positive voice from Southeast Asia, promoting the role of developing countries in global issues such as sustainable development and economic equity, contributing to raising Vietnam's influence in international forums.

The topics and discussion contents of the Conference are quite suitable to Vietnam's reality and Vietnam's strategies on its development path, especially in the period of rapid change and strong orientation towards sustainable development. Therefore, I believe that the Prime Minister will have many positive contributions to the Conference in many aspects.

Regarding the Vietnam-South Africa relationship, what is your assessment of the pace of high-level visits between the two countries, as the visit took place less than a month after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to Vietnam? What does this mean for promoting cooperation between the two countries in the spirit that the South African President emphasized as “more structured, more future-oriented”?

In addition to attending the G20 Summit, the Prime Minister's working trip to South Africa, less than a month after President Cyril Ramaphosa's State visit to Vietnam, is to promote the implementation of agreed contents, and at the same time prepare for upgrading the relationship to a Strategic Partnership, in order to create new momentum for substantive and effective cooperation and increase the depth of bilateral cooperation.

This is an important occasion for both sides to reaffirm their good traditional relations and determination to strengthen economic connectivity. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will focus on promoting key areas such as: Strengthening trade and investment, with the goal of increasing two-way trade turnover, taking advantage of South Africa as a gateway to the African market, promoting the potential for capital investment in each other's markets, which is currently at a modest level; sharing experiences and exchanging cooperation in new areas such as digital economy, digital transformation; discussing global issues and challenges such as climate change and challenges for sustainable development.

Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Hang visited South Africa and co-chaired the Intergovernmental Partnership Forum meeting of the two countries in November 2024. (Source: Embassy of Vietnam in South Africa)

In recent high-level exchanges, the leaders of the two countries have emphasized the need to make the Vietnam-South Africa relationship a model of cooperation between southern countries. To realize this goal, in your opinion, what aspects of cooperation do the two countries need to take the lead in?

Strengthening bilateral cooperation, including in the areas mentioned above, not only brings bilateral benefits but also contributes to the common agenda of the G20, as well as promoting South-South cooperation.

The leaders of the two countries have emphasized the need to make the Vietnam-South Africa relationship a model of cooperation between Southern countries. To achieve that goal, to increase the effectiveness of connectivity and economic cooperation commensurate with political trust and good diplomatic relations, in my opinion, the key point is still to strengthen action, concretize and closely follow the program and action plan.

On the one hand, it is necessary to maintain and promote the momentum of the relationship, such as exchanging delegations at all levels and channels, sharing and learning from each other, and coordinating in multilateral forums. On the other hand, in terms of economic cooperation, it is necessary to increase mutual understanding, have a stronger presence of businesses from both sides, and strengthen people-to-people exchanges, and promote tourism.

In terms of cooperation, in addition to maintaining areas such as minerals, consumer goods, electronics, and some agricultural products, it is necessary to pay attention to new areas such as digital economy, banking and finance cooperation, high-tech agriculture, green energy, etc.

Vietnam has 4 investment projects in South Africa with a total capital of 8.86 million USD, ranking 45th out of 84 countries and territories where Vietnam invests abroad. To further promote this investment flow, what advice and suggestions does the Ambassador have for Vietnamese businesses interested in the South African market?

It can be said that investment between the two sides is very modest. The reason is partly due to geographical distance, but more importantly, there is still a limitation in information, understanding of each other's environment, investment and business conditions, certain barriers in differences in business culture, business...

Therefore, the first thing to do is to increase exchanges, learn about each other, and care about each other. South Africa, like Africa in general, has certain difficulties, limitations, and challenges, but also a lot of potential, and there is still a lot of room for cooperation. It can be said that we need to change our perception first, everything will follow.

Thank you very much, Ambassador!

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/chuyen-cong-tac-cua-thu-tuong-pham-minh-chinh-toi-nam-phi-nang-tam-anh-huong-da-phuong-san-sang-cho-moc-dau-lich-su-song-phuong-334888.html