At the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed the National Assembly Chairman and the Ivory Coast delegation on their first visit to Vietnam; expressing his belief that the visit will be a great success, contributing to opening new pages in the relationship between the two countries.

The Prime Minister congratulated the achievements in political stability and socio-economic development that the people of Ivory Coast have made under the leadership of President Alassane Ouattara.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh receives the President of the Ivory Coast National Assembly. Photo: Duong Giang

On this occasion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh informed about Vietnam's situation, foreign policy, especially Vietnam's efforts to implement the strategic goals set by the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam; at the same time, he affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to promoting friendly cooperation with Ivory Coast, considering Ivory Coast as one of Vietnam's important partners in Africa.

For his part, President of the Ivory Coast National Assembly Adama Bictogo expressed his joy at visiting the beautiful country of Vietnam for the first time and thanked Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Vietnamese people for the warm, respectful and sincere welcome.

National Assembly President Adama Bictogo expressed his admiration for President Ho Chi Minh; congratulated Vietnam on its continued impressive achievements in socio-economic development, which is a model for Côte d'Ivoire; highly appreciated Vietnam's role in the region and the world, especially within the framework of ASEAN and the United Nations; affirmed that Côte d'Ivoire considers Vietnam one of its important partners in ASEAN, and wishes to strengthen multifaceted cooperation with Vietnam to maximize the great potential between the two countries.

In an open, sincere and trusting atmosphere, the two sides had a comprehensive exchange on the socio-economic situation of each country, bilateral cooperation and regional and international issues of mutual concern.

The two leaders highly appreciated the positive developments in bilateral relations, especially in the fields of politics - diplomacy, economics, trade, culture, education... Even during the Covid-19 period, the two countries maintained high-level contacts and made efforts to bring the trade turnover to exceed 1 billion USD for the first time from 2021, affirming the position of Ivory Coast as Vietnam's second largest trade partner in Africa. The two sides achieved encouraging initial cooperation results in the field of investment.

Emphasizing that there is still a lot of room for cooperation between Vietnam and Côte d'Ivoire, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and National Assembly President Adama Bictogo agreed on measures to further deepen bilateral relations, emphasizing the importance of increasing contacts and delegation exchanges, especially at high levels, to enhance political trust, creating a solid foundation for promoting cooperation in all fields, especially economic; determined to further increase bilateral trade turnover through enhancing promotion activities, exchanging business cooperation opportunities while facilitating market expansion in each country as well as in Africa and Asia. Vietnam is ready to support Côte d'Ivoire in strengthening cooperation with ASEAN and Côte d'Ivoire is committed to supporting the promotion of Vietnam-Africa cooperation within the framework of the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Scene of the reception. Photo: Duong Giang

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested that the two sides need to ensure a balanced trade balance, diversify exchanged goods, increase exports of Vietnam's key products and study expanding cooperation to other potential areas; and study a three-way cooperation model on agriculture between the two countries with an international organization. The Prime Minister thanked and asked Ivory Coast to continue creating conditions for the Vietnamese community to live, do business and settle in Ivory Coast, contributing to the friendship between the two countries.

The President of the Ivory Coast National Assembly highly agreed with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's orientations to promote cooperation, committed to promoting the role of the legislative body to support and facilitate the promotion of cooperation between the two governments, especially in implementing the measures proposed by the Prime Minister. In addition, the President of the Ivory Coast National Assembly hoped that Vietnam would share its development experience; proposed to strengthen agricultural cooperation with Vietnam to contribute to ensuring sustainable food security for Ivory Coast; requested Vietnamese enterprises to increase investment and production in Ivory Coast; was ready to research and promote cooperation in the fields of education - training, health care, people-to-people exchange, etc.

During the meeting, the two leaders agreed on the need to strengthen the legal framework for economic cooperation through the increased signing of the Cooperation Framework Agreement as well as important Agreements on trade, investment promotion and protection, and double taxation avoidance. The two sides affirmed to continue to coordinate and actively support each other at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement. They shared and supported the stance of resolving disputes, including the East Sea issue, by peaceful means on the basis of international law.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh respectfully requested the President of the National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire to convey to the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire an invitation to visit Vietnam, and thanked him for the invitation to visit Côte d'Ivoire. The visit will be arranged at an appropriate time through diplomatic channels.

VNA