Over 200 Vietnamese and South African businesses attended theVietnam-South Africa Business Forum on agro-forestry and fisheries, heldin the South African city of Johannesburg on July 18.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Agriculture andRural Development, Ho Xuan Hung, said that Vietnam’s agro-forestry,fisheries exports continued rising over the past time, manifested by itstotal export turnover amounting to over 16 billion USD in the firsthalf of this year, and aquatic products being exported to 160 countriesand territories worldwide.

Hung also described SouthAfrica as a potential market and the top gateway for Vietnam’scommodities to penetrate into the African market.

Last year, bilateral trade between the two countries reached almost 650million USD, representing a year-on-year rise of 26.7 percent and athree-fold increase over 2005. In the first half of this year, Vietnamearned over 750 million USD from its exports to South Africa, he said.

Mayathula Khoza, Head of the Gauteng provincialAgriculture and Rural Development Department said that Vietnam’stransformation from a food-insufficient country into the world’s secondlargest rice exporter in only a short time is an invaluable lesson foragricultural development of Gauteng province in particular and SouthAfrica in general.

She said she hoped the twocountries’ localities would further promote economic and trade ties aswell as exchange experience in production and trading, especially in thefield of agricultural development.

At the event,representatives of businesses introduced their strength and cooperationopportunities, especially in agro-forestry, fisheries and signed manytrading contracts./.