| Vietnam to host forum on Africa | Send to a friend |
| Tuesday, 17 August 2010 23:00 |
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The second Vietnam-Africa International Forum opened here today, drawing participation of 53 foreign delegations including representatives from African countries and international organisations. With the theme of Vietnam-Africa: Cooperation for Sustainable Development, the forum focuses on Vietnam-Africa multi-faceted cooperation with priorities in food security, agriculture, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, trade and investment, and human resources for recovery and sustainable economic development. Delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the theme of the forum reflects the strong desire of Vietnamese people to join the African people for developing long-term and sustainable relations. Mr Abdelkader Messahel, Minister Delegate for Maghreb and African Affairs of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria said, on behalf of African countries, at the meeting that the forum is an opportunity for Vietnam and African countries to assess their cooperation in recent years and put forward measures to bring the Vietnam-Africa cooperation to a new height. Mr Cheick Sidi Diarra, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Special Adviser on Africa said the growing relationship between Africa and Vietnam is welcome because it contributes to developing productive capacity of two sides and to the achievement of sustained growth and poverty reduction. Since the first forum was held in 2003, trade volume between Vietnam and Africa has increased from 360 million US dollars to $2.07 billion in 2009, statistics at the forum showed. The two-day meeting aims to promote and enhance cooperation of Vietnam and Africa in energy, mining, agriculture, infrastructure construction, trade and investment, human resources development, healthcare and education. A number of documents are also expected to be signed between Vietnam and African countries such as an agreement on the waiver of visas for holders of diplomatic and official passports between Vietnam and Burkina Faso and an agreement on economic, cultural, technical and scientific cooperation between Vietnam and Seychelles. Xinhua Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
