Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and South Africa agreed to enhance traditional friendship and multi-face✱ted cooperation in the future, particularly in politics, trade, justice, science-technology, and defense security.

The concurrence was reached at talks between Vietnamese Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh and her South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, in Hanoi on October 3. The two sides expressed their pleasure at the Vietnam-South Africa growing relations over the past two decades, especially since the establishment of partnership for cooperation and development in 2004. They concurred to boost cooperative ties between the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the African National Congress (ANC), which will lay a foundation for the enhancement of high-level delegation exchanges and bilateral collaboration across politics, economics, and trade. Both countries pledged to continuously work together at international forums. South Africa shared Vietnam’s standpoints of addressing any dispute in the East Sea via peaceful means and international law. Deputy President Ramaphosa proposed the two nations diversify their economic and trade links to double two-way trade and create trade balance for mutual benefits. On the economic front, the two sides hope to closely coordinate in the trade of farm produce, marine economy like shipbuilding, fishing and seafood breeding. They also discussed measures to orient cooperation in telecommunication, training, and crime prevention as well as implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to protect wildlife animals.-VNA