Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received South African Vice President Paul Mashatile

On the afternoon of December 14, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received South African Vice President Paul Mashatile, who is on an official visit to Vietnam from December 12 to 15.

At the reception, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to the traditional friendly and cooperative relationship and identifies South Africa as one of Vietnam's top important partners in Africa.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and South African Vice President Paul Mashatile

GIA HAN

South Africa is currently Vietnam’s largest trading partner and export market in Africa; trade between the two countries in recent years has averaged 1.2 billion USD/year. South Africa invests about 0.62 million USD in Vietnam and Vietnam invests about 8.16 million USD in South Africa.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated South Africa's role in regional and international forums; congratulated South Africa on successfully hosting the BRICS Summit on August 15, 2023 and assuming the rotating G20 Presidency in 2025; and asked South Africa to act as a bridge for cooperation between ASEAN and the African Union as well as with regional economic communities. For its part, Vietnam is ready to support South Africa in developing relations with ASEAN effectively and substantially in the coming time.

Both sides were pleased with the strong development of the bilateral relationship in recent times. In the context of the global economy facing many challenges, and the rapid developments in the regional and world situation, the two leaders agreed that, based on the results of the past 30 years, Vietnam and South Africa will continue to seek new directions, new approaches, and new motivations to further promote the relationship between the two countries in the next 30 years.

Regarding economic and trade cooperation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the two sides need to continue to supplement and perfect the legal corridor to create safety and trust, contributing to encouraging businesses and investors of both countries to invest in areas of mutual interest, as well as creating favorable conditions for the two countries' products to penetrate each other's markets, including negotiating and signing cooperation agreements in the field of minerals - a field in which the two countries have great potential and are of great importance in the current period.

At the same time, the Prime Minister also suggested that the two sides expand cooperation in the fields of digital transformation, green growth, granting scholarships to students and having policies to facilitate visas for citizens of the two countries.

In addition, the two leaders agreed to promote the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP); share and exchange experiences in mobilizing financial resources, especially in five transition areas, including developing industrial and service ecosystems for renewable energy, energy transmission and storage, energy efficiency and conservation, green energy conversion, and greenhouse gas emission reduction in the transport sector.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thu-tuong-pham-minh-chinh-tiep-pho-tong-thong-nam-phi-paul-mashatile-185231214223128593.htm