Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has described his working visit to Vietnam as successful, saying it was immensely beneficial for South Africa.
This has been a very successful visit, mutually beneficial based on respect for one another, based on seeking every way we can to prosper each other and make sure that we have really good international relations, Deputy President said on Tuesday.
The visit covered a lot of areas of common interest between South Africa and Vietnam such as trade, education, mining and biodiversity. The two sides have agreed to work on reversing trade imbalances.
Bilateral trade has grown significantly from R13.4 billion to R18.5 billion in 2015, making Vietnam the fourth largest trading partner of South Africa in the Asian region.
“We want to expand trade to include mining products, which we are very good at and to include defence products, which we also have in abundance. We reached an agreement that we are going to do everything we can to balance the trade between our two countries, said the Deputy President.
South Africa took notes from Vietnam on the ocean economy, as Vietnam is already a leader in this sphere, particularly in shipbuilding.
“Vietnam is going to be a good partner when it comes to aquaculture, marine transport, shipbuilding and tugboat building. We are already doing some of these things and Vietnam is going to give us a lot of support and assistance, said Ramaphosa.
On the education front, Vietnam and South Africa have agreed that to cooperate even further by increasing the number of South African students doing marine studies in Vietnam.
South Africa indicated that it was willing to welcome Vietnamese students to come and learn English in South Africa.
Cooperation in biodiversity also featured in discussions between Deputy President Ramaphosa and Vietnamese Vice President A�?ng Th?nh.
We were very pleased with the discussions that we had and appreciated very much the level of concern that the Vietnamese government also has with regards to protecting and conserving the rhino, said Ramaphosa.
The Vietnamese government made a commitment to raise awareness in Vietnam on the importance of rhino conservation.
Source: Nam News Network