Representative from South African business visit Vietnamese goods stall (Source: VNA)Pretoria (VNA) – The Vietnam-South Africa relations have growncontinuously, with the regular exchange of all-level delegations, which havehelped boost the bilateral ties in an intensive, practical and effectivemanner, Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Vu Van Dung has stated.
Dung emphasised the meeting between Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on the sidelines of therecent G7 Leaders' Summit in Canada, during which both sides discussed measuresto expand cooperation, particularly in economy, trade and investment.
Regarding the activities of the embassy in 2018, theambassador said that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the bilateralties. The embassy has organised a lot of activities in celebration of theimportant event, including opening an oil painting exhibition featuringVietnam’s land and people, and participating in trade promotion workshops inJohannesburg and Cape Town. On August 15, it will coordinate with the SouthAfrican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassies of Malaysia, Thailand andthe Philippines in holding a ceremony to celebrate the anniversary.
The embassy will maintain its role as a bridge assisting thetwo countries’ related offices to discuss, complete and sign cooperationdocuments to consolidate legal foundations for cooperation agreements onscience and technology, crime prevention, and criminal extradition and transferof sentenced persons.
According to the diplomat, economic diplomacy, one of thethree pillars of the embassy’s diplomatic work, has been stepped up in variousforms with the aim to contribute to maintaining the two-way trade at over 1billion USD.
He said that there are now around 150 Vietnamese peopleliving in South Africa and surrounding countries of Namibia, Botswana,Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland.
The Vietnamese Embassy in South Africa has conductedactivities to enhance connectivity in the community, and disseminate the Partyand State’s policies to the community.
In terms of citizen protection, Ambassador Dung said thatthe embassy always gives priority to addressing cases involved in Vietnamesecitizens in distress. Last year, it coordinated with both sides’ agencies torepatriate four Vietnamese sailors aboard a fired ship, and many citizens orcrewmen who lost personal papers or got lost.-VNA
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