Pretoria - Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, Hoang Trung Hai, is in South Africa on an official visit and is expected to hold discussions with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on issues of mutual interest on Tuesday.
The Presidency said during the discussions, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang and Deputy President Ramaphosa will explore further opportunities for trade and investment with the objective of diversifying the current trade basket.
This will be directed at ensuring a more balanced trade by reducing South Africa’s significant trade deficit with Vietnam.
The status of cooperation in other important areas such as biodiversity conservation and protection will also be on the agenda for discussion, said the Presidency.
Deputy Prime Minister Trung, who arrived in South Africa at the weekend, will also pay a courtesy call on President Jacob Zuma.
Since the establishment of formal diplomatic relations in December 1993, a solid bilateral relationship has developed between South Africa and Vietnam, reflected in the 13 bilateral legal instruments, among others.
“These instruments include cooperation in the areas of foreign relations, trade and investment, defence, consular affairs, tourism, water resources, biodiversity conservation and protection and combating crime.
“One of these instruments relates to the establishment in 2004 of the Inter-Governmental Partnership Forum for Economic, Trade, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Co-operation aimed at facilitating bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest,” said the Presidency.
The most recent meeting of the Partnership Forum between the two countries took place in Hanoi on 18 and 19 June 2015 at deputy ministerial level.
According to official South African trade statistics, total trade between South Africa and Vietnam is growing year-on-year and amounted to R13.4 billion in 2014, from R11.2 billion in 2013, out of a total of just under R107 billion with the ten member states of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). - SAnews.gov.za
