HA NOI — President Nguyen Minh Triet said the State and people of Viet Nam warmly welcomed the first President of South Africa to visit Viet Nam, lauding it a milestone in the two countries’ traditional friendship and co-operation.
Triet made the statement at a meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki yesterday.
Triet said he appreciated the great achievements the South African people have gained in the last 10 years under the leadership of African National Congress and President Thabo Mbeki as well as South Africa’s contributions to peace, stability and development in Africa and the world.
Earlier, the two leaders held a signing ceremony to mark a joint declaration between Viet Nam and South Africa.
The two leaders on the same day also witnessed the signing of three co-operative documents including a co-operative agreement between the two governments, an agreement to exempt visas for people with diplomatic passports and official passports; and minutes of a partnership forum of Viet Nam and South Africa.
Triet said Vietnamese and South African peoples had a traditional friendship, and the two countries had supported each other in the previous national struggles for independence as well as in current national development.
He said the two countries’ leaders share points of view on matters of mutual concern in addition to regional and international issues. He said the two sides had expressed their wish to strengthen relations in every aspect, especially to lift political relations to a higher level, further boosting co-operation in economy, culture, science, technology, education and health care.
President Thabo Mbeki had supported Viet Nam in becoming a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2008-09 and recognised Viet Nam as having a market economy. This special sentiment meant a great deal to the State and people of Viet Nam, Triet said.
He said Viet Nam was ready to share with South Africa experiences in hunger eradication, poverty alleviation, and agricultural development. With its strengths, South Africa can help Viet Nam as a member of the WTO.
Triet applauded South Africa for joining with Viet Nam and the island of Guinea Conakry’s co-operation agreements in agriculture.
In turn, President Thabo Mbeki said he admired Viet Nam’s previous struggles for national independence and said he appreciated Viet Nam’s achievements in the renewal cause, national development, hunger eradication and poverty alleviation.
He congratulated Viet Nam for its achievements in successfully organising the 10th National Party Congress, organising Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting, elections for the 12th National Assembly and for becoming the 150th member of the WTO.
He also said South Africa wanted to strengthen and develop traditional friendship and multifaceted co-operation with Viet Nam, and highly valued Viet Nam’s role and position in the region, in the Non-Aligned Movement and in the world.
He said Viet Nam was becoming an important destination for foreign investment in Asia, and its experience in socio-economic development and attracting foreign investment would help South Africa in development of the country.
Though South Africa was Viet Nam’s largest partner in Africa, the two countries still had much co-operative potential that remained untapped, he said.
The two countries should work out concrete steps to boost economic, trade and investment relations, as well as expand co-operation in other fields, he said.
At their meeting, the two leaders agreed to ask ministries and sectors to boost co-operation in trade, investment, science and technology, education, tourism, national defence, security and other potential aspects.
Meeting with PM
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also met with President Thabo Mbeki yesterday to discuss boosting co-operation between the two countries in all aspects.
The two discussed ways to use the countries’ strong bilateral ties to boost development in economics, trade, investment, education, science and technology.
The Prime Minister asked the South African president to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to invest in South Africa in agricultural production and to grant scholarships to Vietnamese students to study in the country.
He affirmed that the Government of Viet Nam would do its best to implement agreements on which the two countries’ presidents had agreed.
President Thabo Mbeki said co-operation scopes between the two nations are very large, especially in economy, trade and investment.
He then affirmed his desire to consolidate co-operation with Viet Nam in all aspects.
Home visit for General Giap
On the same day, President Thabo Mbeki visited General Vo Nguyen Giap at his house.
The president said he was happy to meet the general, a man he’d admired since his youth alongside President Ho Chi Minh.
In its struggle for national independence, South Africa gleaned many experiences from Viet Nam, he said.
In return, General Giap said the friendship between Viet Nam and South Africa had a historical length, adding that Viet Nam was happy to see the great achievements made by the South African people in national development, which have rendered South Africa an important role model in economic development for the African continent.
He said he hoped friendship between the two nations would be boosted in the future in every aspect, especially relations between the two countries’ younger populations.
Yesterday, President Thabo Mbeki’s wife, Zanele Mbeki, visited the Viet Nam Women’s Union. — VNS
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