The diplomat made the remark in an interview with theVietnam News Agency on the occasion of the 25-year diplomatic relations of thetwo nations (1993-2018).
According to Dung, South Africa is now the biggest exportmarket of Vietnam in Africa, with bilateral trade hovering around 1 billion USDduring the past five years.
Vietnam mainly ships to South Africa mobile phones,computers, electronic devices and components, footwear, machinery, equipmentand spare parts, while importing a large volume of plastics, metal, fruit, garmentand textile materials, footwear and leather, and chemical products.
Dung said the Vietnamese Embassy in South Africa has been workingto serve the development of bilateral trade.
The embassy has coordinated with Vietnamese and SouthAfrican trade and industry agencies, particularly Johannesburg and Cape Town toarrange for Vietnamese businesses to take part in trade fairs such as theannual South African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX), the biggest ofits kind in Africa. It has also organised events to promote connectivity, tradeand investment, such as the 2017 ASEAN – Africa business forum and B2B meetingson the occasion of visits by officials from Vietnamese localities like VinhPhuc and Tuyen Quang.
Dung affirmed that the embassy will maintain its role as abridge between the two countries’ related agencies to discuss and signcooperation documents, creating legal foundations for bilateral partnership indifferent fields, such as agreements on cooperation in science-technology andinnovation, education-training, crime prevention, criminal extradition,judicial support, and double taxation avoidance, and memoranda of understandingon cooperation in forestry and mining, among others.
Currently, Vietnam – South Africa ties are growing steadily,with regular exchange of all-level delegations, annual meetings of the partnershipforum at deputy foreign ministerial level, and frequent policy dialogue betweenthe two defence ministries.
The two countries are negotiating and completing proceduresfor the signing of a dozen of memoranda of understanding and agreements acrossdifferent spheres.
Vietnam and South Africa have actively supported each otheron the international stage, including each other’s bid to become anon-permanent member of the UN Security Council, and coordinated atinternational forums such as the Non-Aligned Movement.-VNA