Hanoi (VNA)✤ – Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Vu Hong Thanh held talks with Vice President of the National Assembly of Côte d’Ivoire Woi Mela Gaston, and met with Vice President of the Senate Sarra Fadika Sako as part of his official visit to the African country July 9 to 12.

Earlier, he also held a working session with Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Ivorians Abroad Kacou Houadja Léon Adom. At the talks and the meetings, Thanh expressed his pleasure at making his first visit to Côte d’Ivoire, which coincided with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries (October 6, 1975 – 2025). He thanked the Ivorian National Assembly, Senate, Foreign Ministry, and people for their warm hospitality and affirmed Vietnam’s desire to strengthen its friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Côte d’Ivoire. He applauded Côte d’Ivoire’s significant achievements in maintaining political and social stability, sustaining strong economic growth, and improving its investment and business climate, all contributing to its goal of becoming an emerging economy by 2030. Thanh affirmed that Vietnam values and wishes to develop friendly and cooperative relations with African countries, including Côte d’Ivoire - Vietnam’s second-largest trading partner in Africa with bilateral trade nearing 1.3 billion USD in 2024. Sharing Vietnam’s recent socio-economic progress, Thanh highlighted the country’s comprehensive efforts to streamline the state apparatus, build a two-tier local government model, and promote four strategic pillars relating to science-technology, innovation, and digital transformation; international integration; private economic development, and reforms in legislative work and law enforcement. The Ivorian leaders warmly welcomed the visit, the first by a senior Vietnamese parliamentary leader since the two countries' diplomatic ties were established. They praised Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements and expressed their desire to learn from its experience in poverty reduction, investment attraction, and national development. NA Vice President Gaston described Vietnam as a “great friend” of Côte d’Ivoire, noting the growing friendship and robust economic-trade ties. Vice President of the Senate Sako highlighted the two countries' efforts in reforms and development as well as their potential for South-South cooperation.

Foreign Minister Adom said that the trip, in addition to promoting parliamentary cooperation, helps promote people-to-people exchange, and is also a visit of the Vietnamese people to the people of Côte d'Ivoire. The two sides agreed on several measures to deepen bilateral ties. They concurred to make parliamentary cooperation a key pillar of the bilateral cooperation, enhance coordination at multilateral forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Francophone Parliamentary Assembly (APF), and implement the existing Memorandum of Understanding between their legislatures. They also considered forming a Vietnam–Côte d’Ivoire Parliamentary Friendship Group. Both sides also agreed to continue consolidating political trust, increasing regular high-level exchanges and accelerating negotiations on foundational agreements, including an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, and an MoU on economic and trade cooperation. These steps aim to provide a solid legal framework for deeper cooperation. To enhance economic, trade, and investment ties, the two countries will continue to promote traditional areas such as cashew and rice trade, while encouraging businesses to explore opportunities in textiles, footwear, building materials, electrical equipment, and Halal products. They also discussed potential for trilateral agricultural cooperation and greater banking collaboration. In the absence of resident representative offices in each other’s capitals, both sides need to make better use of non-resident embassies and honorary consuls to boost communications and people-to-people exchange. On this occasion, Thanh thanked the Ivorian side for supporting the Vietnamese community in Côte d’Ivoire and expressed his hope for continued assistance to help them live and work stably, contributing to local development and bilateral relations. Regarding multilateral cooperation, the Vietnamese official expressed appreciation for Côte d’Ivoire’s support of Vietnam’s candidacies to international bodies and called for continued mutual backing at multilateral forums. At the regional level, he suggested Côte d’Ivoire help Vietnam enhance ties with the African Union and West African regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Vietnam, in turn, stands ready to support Côte d’Ivoire’s cooperation with ASEAN and its member states. On this occasion, Thanh conveyed State President Luong Cuong’s invitation to Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara to attend the signing ceremony of the United Nations Anti-cybercrime Convention, to be held in Hanoi in October./.