Opening up new prospects for cooperation between Vietnam and Senegal

According to Ambassador Tran Quoc Khanh, the official visit to Senegal by National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and his wife along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation is of great significance and historical significance.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man . (Photo: VNA)

At the invitation of President of the Inter- Parliamentary Union (IPU) Tulia Ackson, Secretary General of the IPU Martin Chungong, President of the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco Rachid Talbi Alami and President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Senegal El Malick Ndiaye, Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man, on behalf of the leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam, together with his wife and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam, attended the 6th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Switzerland; conducted bilateral activities in Switzerland; paid official visits to Morocco and Senegal from July 22 to 30, 2025.

Senegal is the first stop of National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and his wife along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation (from July 22 to 24, 2025).

This is the highest-level visit ever in more than 55 years of relations between the two countries. Therefore, the visit is expected to mark a turning point, opening up new prospects for cooperation between the two countries.

Vietnam-Senegal traditional friendship develops well

Vietnam and Senegal have a traditional friendship and good cooperation. The two countries established diplomatic relations on December 29, 1969. Currently, the Vietnamese Embassy in Algeria is also serving Senegal, while the Senegalese Embassy in Malaysia is also serving Vietnam.

The two countries have exchanged a number of high-level delegations such as: Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam Nguyen Huu Tho visited Senegal (in 1973); Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh visited Senegal (in 1995); Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh visited Senegal (in 1996); Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Huy Ngo visited Senegal (in 2002); Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko on the occasion of attending the 16th Annual Pioneers Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Tianjin (China) (June 25, 2025)...

On the Senegalese side, there were visits to Vietnam by: President Abdou Diouf and Foreign Minister Moustapha Niasse to attend the 7th Francophone Summit in Hanoi (November 1997); Senegalese Acting Minister of Communications and Transport Basirou Guisse (July 2010); First Vice President of the National Assembly Ismaela Diallo to attend the Conference of the Executive Board of the Francophone Parliamentary Union (APF) (January 2025)...

Most recently, on the occasion of attending the 16th Annual Pioneers Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Tianjin (China) on June 25, 2025, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.

On the occasion of attending the 16th annual Pioneers Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF 16) in Tianjin and working in China, on the morning of June 25, 2025, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko. (Photo: VNA)

At the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam and Senegal have a traditional friendship and good cooperation. The Prime Minister emphasized the motto of "working together, enjoying together, developing together", Vietnam is ready to continue sending agricultural experts to share development experience and support Senegal in ensuring food security with new and increasingly effective methods.

The Prime Minister said that Vietnam has become an observer of the African Union (AU), and asked Senegal to support and act as a bridge for Vietnam to strengthen relations with African countries and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); and continue to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese citizens and workers and people of Vietnamese origin to live and work in Senegal.

For his part, Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko affirmed that Senegal always attaches importance to the friendly cooperative relationship with Vietnam, hopes that the two countries will further promote delegation exchanges and people-to-people exchanges, and is ready to act as a bridge to promote cooperation between the AU and ECOWAS, and hopes that Vietnam will increase investment in the market of 400 million consumers in the West African region.

The leaders of the two sides agreed to increase delegation exchanges and contacts at high and all levels between the two countries, continue to enhance trade activities, promote trade and investment, connect businesses and create conditions for each country's strong products to penetrate each other's markets; emphasize cooperation in the agricultural sector.

On the multilateral level, the two countries strengthen cooperation within the framework of international organizations of which both countries are members such as the United Nations, Francophonie, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)...

Recently, Senegal has actively supported Vietnam in nominating Yen Tu-Con Son and Kiep Bac to become World Cultural Heritage at the 47th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This is a vivid demonstration of the effective coordination between the two countries in the international arena and is also a content of cooperation that the two countries focus on, aiming to further strengthen in the coming time.

Economic and trade cooperation has grown

As two countries with a traditional friendly relationship, Vietnam-Senegal trade relations have seen significant growth in recent years. Bilateral trade turnover in 2022 reached 70.60 million USD, in 2023 reached 134.3 million USD, in 2024 reached 81.16 million USD, in the first 4 months of 2025 alone, Vietnam's export turnover to Senegal reached 43.3 million USD, equivalent to the export turnover of the whole year 2024.

Vietnam exports to Senegal mainly pepper, textiles, vegetables and fruits and imports from Senegal mainly cashew nuts, animal feed...

Assessing the prospects for bilateral cooperation in the coming time, Vietnamese Ambassador to Algeria and Senegal Tran Quoc Khanh said that Vietnam is currently an active member of ASEAN - a dynamic region with impressive economic growth rates and increasingly attracting widespread attention from the international community.

Meanwhile, Senegal is a key player in West Africa. It is a rapidly growing economy with an open trade policy and is a founding member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, an influential regional economic community.

In addition, Senegal is also one of the leading countries in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), an integration mechanism that is opening up opportunities to access the continental market of more than 1 billion people.

With such characteristics, Ambassador Tran Quoc Khanh believes that Senegal can absolutely play the role of a gateway for Vietnamese goods, services and businesses to penetrate deeper into the West African market in particular and Africa in general. Conversely, Vietnam can also be an important transit point and springboard to help Senegal access the ASEAN market, thereby expanding its presence in the Southeast Asian region.

Currently, the Vietnamese community living and working in Senegal has about 3,000 people, always closely connected and oriented towards the Fatherland.

Besides the Vietnamese community, there is also a group of Senegalese natives closely connected to Vietnam through practicing Vovinam martial arts.

Senegal has established the Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao Association under the World Vovinam Federation with thousands of students participating in training and competing regularly. Although not of Vietnamese blood, through a long training process, many Vovinam students in Senegal have understood and imbued with Vietnamese moral and cultural values. They are not only a bridge in the field of sports but also contribute to spreading a positive image of the country and people of Vietnam to Senegalese friends.

Opening up new prospects for cooperation between the two countries in many fields

According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Algeria and Senegal Tran Quoc Khanh, the official visit to Senegal by National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and his wife along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation from July 22 to 24, 2025 is of extremely important and historic significance.

The visit took place in the context that Senegal, a country considered one of the most dynamically developing economies in West Africa, has just completed the process of perfecting its political apparatus, through the election of the President, the appointment of the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the National Assembly in 2024. Meanwhile, Vietnam has also successfully converted the government model from three levels to two levels, officially taking effect from July 1, 2025.

In that context, the visit is expected to open up new cooperation prospects, promote friendly relations and bring cooperation between the two countries into greater depth and substance.

According to Ambassador Tran Quoc Khanh, both Senegal and Vietnam have shown special interest and clear determination in promoting bilateral relations to a new level. This is a positive signal, reflecting the consensus and readiness for cooperation of both sides.

Therefore, within the framework of the visit, in addition to the main content of enhancing cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries, this visit will also create conditions to promote cooperation in many other areas such as trade, agriculture, science, technology and people-to-people exchange.

Especially in the field of sports, Ambassador Tran Quoc Khanh said that Senegal is currently the country with the most strongly developed Vovinam practice movement in Africa, second only to Algeria.

To date, more than 3,000 people are practicing Vovinam at clubs across the provinces and cities of Senegal. This is an effective bridge of exchange between the two countries, contributing to connecting the people of the two countries in both culture and sports. Both nations have a martial spirit, love sports and possess a young workforce - these are factors that create favorable conditions to promote sustainable cooperation in the future.

During the reception for Senegalese Ambassador to Malaysia and Vietnam Abdoulaye Barro on July 18, 2025 at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Hoang Giang expressed his belief that the official visit to Senegal by National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and his wife and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation this time will achieve substantial results, especially in trade, investment, agriculture, sustainable development, innovation, creating a premise to deepen the bilateral relationship between Vietnam and Senegal, increasingly effective, bringing practical benefits to each country, contributing to peace, stability, and development in the region and the world.

According to nhandan.vn

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/mo-ra-nhung-trien-vong-hop-tac-moi-giua-hai-nuoc-viet-nam-va-senegal-155836.html