Hanoi (VNA) – President Nguyen Xuan Phucmet with newly-appointed ambassadors of South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Belgium, who came topresent their credentials, in Hanoi on August 5.

Meeting with Ambassador of South Africa VuyiswaTulelo, President Phuc expressed his belief that she will contribute topromoting the bilateral ties, especially the organisation of activities markingthe 30th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2023.

Vietnam always attaches importance to the traditionalfriendship with South Africa and regards the country as an importantcooperation and development partner in the continent, he affirmed.

The President urged the diplomat to coordinate withVietnamese agencies to step up the exchange of delegations, especially at thehigh level, through Party, State and National Assembly channels.

Vietnam stands ready to support South Africa toenhance cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), hesaid, calling for South Africa’s support and close coordination in promoting therelations between Vietnam and Africa.

South Africa is Vietnam’s biggest trade partner inAfrica with two-way trade reaching 1.3 billion USD in 2021, according to the State leader.

He suggested the two countries strengthencooperation by diversifying the structure and scale of goods, increasingproducts with high values and creating favourable conditions for businesses toboost exchanges and seek trade and investment cooperation opportunities.

Along with collaboration in major areas like industry,agriculture and national defence-security, the two sides should fostercooperation in education-training, tourism, culture and climate changeresponse.

For her part, Tulelo pledged to tighten bilateral political - diplomatic ties and beef up cooperation in economy, trade, nationaldefence-security, education and people-to-people exchange, while promoting theimage of the two countries to their people.

At a reception for Ambassador of Saudi Arabia MohammedIsmaeil A.Dahlwy, President Phuc stressed that Saudi Arabia is one of Vietnam’s leading economic,trade and investment partners in the Middle East, and called on the diplomat towork to raise bilateral trade to 10 billion USD.

He said trade promotion should be intensified tofacilitate the access of the two countries’ products to each other's markets.  

Vietnam hoped that Saudi Arabia will soon remove theban on importing aquatic products, President Phuc said, pledging to facilitate operations of Saudi Arabia investors in the country.

He also urged the two sides to review and acceleratethe negotiations and signing of cooperation documents, especially agreements oninvestment promotion and protection and crime combat, and improve theefficiency of cooperation mechanisms like the joint committee and politicalconsultation.

The ambassador noted positive developments of thebilateral cooperation in economy and trade, and promised to make every effortto forge the relations between the two countries.

At a meeting with Ambassador of Belgium Karl HendrikMargareta Van Den Bossche, President Phuc emphasised that Vietnam attachesimportance to its relations with Belgium as well as cooperation with theEuropean Union (EU) and its member countries.

The President suggested Belgium create favourableconditions for Vietnamese agricultural products to enter the country and theretail system in Europe, and urged the Belgian parliament to soon ratify theEU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and the European Commission(EC) to remove its “yellow card” warning against Vietnamese seafood.

The two countries should enhance cooperation ingreen agriculture, renewable energy, digital economy, green economy andpersonnel training, he continued.

Belgium is Vietnam’s sixth largest importer in Europewith two-way trade hitting 4.3 billion USD last year, up 54% year-on-year, andBelgium’s foreign direct investment (FDI) standing at 1.1 billion USD, President Phucsaid, asking the ambassador to pay heed to boosting the trade ties.

For his part, the ambassador said Belgium wants toclosely cooperate with Vietnam in education-training, saying the sharing ofexperience in wind power and green agriculture would help Vietnam achieve thetarget of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

With its advantages in seaports, Belgium expects tocooperate with Vietnam to help Vietnamese goods further penetrate into theEuropean market, he said.

The diplomat noted his hope for cooperationopportunities in health care and pharmacy, and promised to foster the bilateralcollaboration across fields./.