Cooperating with Vietnam benefits South Africa: official
Promoting cooperation with Vietnam will bring practical socio-economic benefits to South Africa, said the African country's Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) Alvin Botes.
He made the affirmation while accompanying a delegation of the Vietnamese Embassy on a recent working visit to Northern Cape province.
The official said that South Africa continues to implement the policy of expanding diplomatic relations with traditional friends, including Vietnam.
This time, the Vietnamese embassy presented 250,000 face masks to the province’s Education Department and several schools in the locality.
Ambassador Hoang Van Loi said that Vietnam is striving to curb the spread of COVID-19, giving the highest priority to people's lives and health, promoting the vaccination drive and gradually restoring economic activities.
The two countries’ trade turnover reached around US$1.4 billion in 2020, up 23% year-on-year, and US$706 million in the first half of this year. However, Vietnamese exports to South Africa accounts for only 1.3% of the country’s total import value.
Vietnam is actively increasing exports of apparel, footwear, coffee and pepper to South Africa and expanding cooperation in education and mining with the nation, Loi added.
