President Triet welcomes his South African counterpart, Thabo Mbeki.

The South African and Vietnamese relationship holds tremendous potential for growth, said South African President Thabo Mbeki, who began his first official visit to Vietnam, on May 24.

Holding talks with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet in Hanoi, President Mbeki expressed wish to strengthen the traditional friendship and multifaceted co-operation with Vietnam under the spirit of the "Joint Statement on Partnership for Co-operation and Development" signed by himself and the then Vietnamese PM Phan Van Khai in November 2004.

The South African leader affirmed that his country supported Vietnam’s bid for a seat on the UN’s Security Council for 2008-2009 term as a non-permanent member. He also revealed a decision to admit that Vietnam’s economy is run under market regulations.

For his part, President Triet thanked the South African people and President Mbeki for their support to the Vietnamese people in the past struggle for national liberation and the present national construction cause.

He affirmed Vietnam constantly implement the external policy of diversification and multilateralisation of international relations for peace, co-operation and development. "Vietnam attached importance to strengthening and developing its relations with traditional friends in Africa, including South Africa," he said.

Talks held between Vietnamese and South African delegations.

The Vietnamese leader applauded South Africa’s initiative to join Vietnam and Ghine Conakry in tripartite co-operation in agriculture.

The two Presidents’ talks focused on ways to expand relations in economic, trade, investment and foreign policy by working together through the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement.

After the talks, the Presidents witnessed the signing of a co-operation agreement between the two governments a treaty on visa exemptions for diplomatic and official passport holders, and a memorandum of understanding on partnership forum.

At a press conference held after the Presidential meeting, the Vietnamese leader said Vietnam is eager to share its experiences in agriculture development and poverty alleviation with South Africa.

President Mbeki paid a courtesy visit to legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap in the afternoon. (VNA)

President Mbeki vows to foster ties with Vietnam

South African president Thabo Mbeki affirmed with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi on May 24 that he would do his utmost to foster the country’s co-operation with Vietnam in all fields.

The two leaders expressed their wishes to enhance the bilateral relations in all spheres, particularly lifting the political relations to a new height and further co-operation in economy, culture, science and technology, education and healthcare.

President Mbeki spoke highly of the progress made by Vietnam during the country’s national development process, particularly in poverty reduction.

He expressed his delight at tri-co-operation agreements reached between Vietnam, South Africa and Guinea in food production, thus helping to ensure food supply for Guinea.

For his part, the Vietnamese government leader appreciated incentives by the South African president in further intensifying the co-operation between the two countries.

With the view of further promoting the relations between Vietnam and South Africa, PM Dung proposed president Mbeki to create propitious conditions for Vietnamese businesses to continue to invest in South Africa in agricultural production. (VNA)

Vietnam-South Africa Joint Declaration

Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet and his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki signed the Vietnam-South Africa Joint Declaration in Hanoi on May 24. The joint declaration runs as follow:

1. At the invitation of H.E. Mr. Nguyen Minh Triet, State President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, H.E. Mr. Thabo Mbeki, President of the Republic of South Africa, paid a State Visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 23 to 25 May 2007. H.E. President Mbeki was accompanied by Their Excellencies, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. N.C. Dlamini Zuma, Minister of Education, Ms GN Pandor, Minister of Minerals and Energy, Ms B Sonjica, Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr. M George, and Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. R. Davies, as well as a South African business delegation, on his State Visit to Vietnam.

2. During his stay in Vietnam, President Thabo Mbeki held talks with State President Nguyen Minh Triet, met Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and paid a courtesy call to General Vo Nguyen Giap. On the occasion of May 25th, the Africa Day, President Thabo Mbeki delivered an important lecture on African issues, and South Africa’s foreign policy objectives in the increasingly globalised world, to an audience that included scholars, diplomats and senior students of the Institute for International Relations. During his stay, President Mbeki also visited a number of economic and cultural institutions in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. While in Ho Chi Minh City, President Mbeki met Mr. Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of the People’s Committee, of the city and addressed the business seminar.

3. President Nguyen Minh Triet and President Thabo Mbeki highly appreciated the fine developments in the multi-faceted relations of friendship and co-operation between Vietnam and South Africa within the bilateral framework, as well as at multilateral fora since the establishment of the full diplomatic relations between the two countries ten years ago, especially the major outcomes of the implementation of the “ Vietnam-South Africa Joint Statement on the Partnership for Co-operation and Development”, signed during the visit to South Africa by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and President Thabo Mbeki in November 2004.

4. The two leaders warmly welcomed and highly appreciated the excellent outcomes of the First Session of the Vietnam-South Africa Partnership Forum and, at the same time, expressed their deep conviction that they will lay an important basis for the further promotion and expansion of the relations of multi-faceted co-operation between Vietnam and South Africa in the future.

5. To ensure the interests, and meet the co-operation expectations of the two peoples, the two sides undertook to bring the relations of friendship and co-operation between the two countries to a new height. The two sides agreed to strive for the further consolidation and development of their co-operative relations in the fields of political and economic co-operation, as well as in trade, investment, minerals and energy, science and technology, education and training, agriculture, security, national defence, and other areas of co-operation of mutual interest. The details are as follows:

Political Co-operation

6. The two sides reiterated their wish to intensify the exchange of high-level visits and meetings for the purpose of exchanging views on major issues in their bilateral relations as well the situation in Asia, Africa and the world.

7. The two sides agreed to advance the operation of the “Vietnam-South Africa Partnership Forum”, in order to maintain a mechanism for regular and periodic meetings, work out roadmaps for co-operation among Ministries and governmental agencies of the two countries so as to facilitate co-operation in specific sectors; increase interactions and exchange among the two countries’ localities, big cities and mass organisations as well as people-to-people contacts; and convene the Forum in South Africa in 2008.

8. South Africa welcomed Vietnam‘s successful hosting of the 14th Summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum (APEC) and its nomination by the group of Asian countries to be a candidate as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the period 2008-2009. South Africa supports Vietnam to become a non-permanent member of the UNSC in the period 2008-2009, and is willing to share its experiences with Vietnam in this respect.

Co-operation in Economic, Trade, Investment Areas

9. The two sides noted with satisfaction the rapid growth in bilateral trade in recent years. However, t he two sides shared the view that the current commercial relationship is not commensurate with the economic potential that exists between the two countries, and undertook to further develop bilateral trade.

10. The South African side highly valued the all-round achievements recorded by Vietnam during 20 years of Doi moi (Renovation) and, warmly welcomed its official accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and in recognition of these achievements officially granted Vietnam the market economy status.

11. The two sides noted with satisfaction the initial positive developments in investment co-operation between Vietnam and South Africa, and agreed that there is significant potential for increased co-operation on investment. Based on this understanding, the two sides agreed to undertake measures to support and facilitate increased and mutually beneficial investment in each other’s markets.

12. On the minerals and energy front, the two sides agreed to exchange knowledge and technical expertise with regards to value addition in both sectors, including gemmology. They also agreed to promote institutional co-operation and synergy, particularly between their respective state-owned oil and gas companies PetroSA and PetroVietnam, and between South Africa’s mineral processing and exploration companies Mintek, and the Council for GeoScience respectively, and Vietnamese mining company Vinacomin.

Co-operation in Education and Training, Science and Technology

13. The two sides undertook to take the necessary measures to encourage the exchange of students and researchers between their respective countries, with South Africa expressing its readiness to receive post-graduate Vietnamese students in identified areas of study.

14. Both sides reaffirmed the importance of mutual collaboration and encouraged specifically direct linkages between their higher education institutions.

15. It was agreed that a technical mission of Vietnamese experts will visit South Africa to further explore possible areas of co-operation with the aim of supporting capacity building development.

16. The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations of education managers, researchers, lecturers and teachers in order to promote the exchange of experiences in educational management, mathematics teaching, water and forestry management and research in each other’s country.

17. The two sides agreed to encourage scientists and entrepreneurs to intensify their co-operation in high technology fields, including clean coal and alternative energy technologies.

Agricultural co-operation

18. The two sides agreed to promote co-operation in the application of bio-technology development and management, and efficient utilisation of natural resources.

Co-operation in National Defence and Security

19. The two sides noted with satisfaction the fine progress in national defence co-operation between the two countries in recent times, and agreed to strengthen bilateral co-operation in this area in the time to come, on the basis of ensuring mutual interests and making positive contributions to peace, stability and security in their respective regions. The two sides agreed to speed up the exchange of delegations at all levels in defence to deepen mutual understanding between the defence establishments. Further, the two sides agreed on the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the establishment of a Joint Defence Committee to boost co-operation in military human resources development and defence industries.

20. The two sides agreed to promote and share experiences and intelligence information in counter-terrorism, piracy, and organised and transnational crime. Further, the two sides agreed to the exchange of delegations at all levels of their security establishments.

Co-operation in other Fields

21. The two sides agreed to promote co-operation in other fields of mutual concern such as fishery, transportation, post and telecommunication, tourism, cultural exchange, arts, banking, sports, environment, meteorology, disaster management and rural education.

22. The tuo sides agreed on a draft MoU in Water Resources Management to be signed during 2007. The draft MoU identifies, among others, key areas of co-operation, including relevant laws, policies and regulations, research and development, institutional capacity building and training, and water-related business opportunities.

23. On forestry, the two sides furthermore identified key areas of co-operation , such as policy and regulations including privatization of forests; capacity building and training; sustainable forest management and certification; timber processing and trade in forest products; forestation and combating of desertification; and research including forest evaluation. The two sides agreed to draft a MoU based on these areas of co-operation to be signed during 2007.

Co-operation in International and Regional Fora

24. The two sides noted with satisfaction the fine co-ordination and co-operation between the two countries in regional and international forums in the past years. The two sides agreed to deepen their co-operation within the framework of the Afro-Asia co-operation, especially the New Asia-Africa Strategic Partnership (NAASP) for the sake of peace, stability, co-operation and development in their respective regions and the world over. The two sides underlined the need for the reform of the United Nations (UN) including the expansion of the number of permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council. In this regard, Vietnam expressed its thanks for South Africa’s support for Vietnam’s candidature for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council for the term 2008-2009.

2 5 . The two sides highly valued the co-operation and co-ordination between the two countries at regional and international forums such as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Afro-Asia Summit as well as in South-South co-operation. In this regard, Vietnam highly appreciated South Africa‘s initiative in tripartite co-operation between South Africa, the Republic of Guinea and Vietnam in wet rice cultivation in Guinea.

2 6 . Together with this Joint Declaration, the two sides also signed the Minute of the First Session of the Vietnam-South Africa Partnership Forum; the A greement on the Exemption of Visas for Holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports; and the Agreement on Co-operation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam and the Department of Foreign Affairs of South Africa.

2 7 . The two sides expressed their conviction that the excellent outcomes of the State Visit to Vietnam by President Thabo Mbeki will open up a new era in the relations of friendship and multi-faceted co-operation between the two countries.

2 8 . President Thabo Mbeki expressed his thanks to the State and people of Vietnam for the generous hospitality extended to him and his entourage. President Thabo Mbeki extended his invitation to State President Nguyen Minh Triet for an official visit to South Africa at his convenience. State President Nguyen Minh Triet accepted the invitation with pleasure. The date of the visit will be communicated through the diplomatic channel. (VNA)