The Deputy President's wife is accompanying her husband on an official visit to Vietnam from December 12 to 15.
At the meeting, the host and guest discussed cooperation potential and agreed to coordinate activities helping strengthen friendship between the two peoples.
Son emphasised that Vietnam and South Africa officially established diplomatic relations in 1993, but their relations date back long before that.
Over the past years, bilateral relations have been growing in multiple areas such as economy, trade, and technology. Cooperation potential remains huge in terms of tourism, cultural and art exchanges, education, and mineral mining, among others, he added.
VUFO President Phan Anh Son (R) and Humile Mashatile, spouse of Deputy President of South Africa Paul Mashatile, at the meeting in Hanoi on December 14 (Photo: Communist Party of Vietnam online newspaper)
VUFO has worked with the Vietnam - Africa Friendship and Cooperation Association (VAFCA) and the South African Embassy in Vietnam to hold numerous activities, including celebrations of the countries’ anniversaries, friendship meetings, conferences, workshops, and trips by South African delegations to Vietnamese localities, he noted.
The official proposed his guest create conditions and support South African agencies and organisations to pay more attention to enhancing friendship with Vietnam, set up a friendship organisation between the two countries, and introduce partners to VUFO and VAFCA.
For her part, Humile Mashatile said the South African delegation’s visit to Vietnam aims to build on the outcomes of the trip to her country by Vietnamese Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan last September.
During Xuan’s visit, the two sides discussed cooperation in many areas like politics, security, economy, education, and culture, she continued, noting that Vietnam and South Africa share many historical similarities.
She held that the two countries should push ahead with cooperation in the fields generating practical benefits for people such as education, cultural exchanges, and poverty reduction./.
Q.Hoa t.h / VNA
