Prime Minister: Vietnam and South Africa have strengths that can complement each other

The Prime Minister affirmed that the two countries have always been good friends and good partners, always supporting and helping each other, and was pleased that both countries now have increasing roles and positions in the international arena.

On the afternoon of October 23, at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with President of the Republic of South Africa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa on the occasion of his state visit to Vietnam from October 23-24, 2025.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his pleasure to meet again and welcome President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa and the high-ranking South African delegation to their state visit to Vietnam.

Recalling his deep impressions of the country and people of South Africa during his visit to South Africa in 2019, the Prime Minister congratulated the outstanding achievements that the South African people have made in national development, as well as South Africa's important role and contributions to regional and global issues.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with President of the Republic of South Africa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa. (Photo: Duong Giang/VNA)

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his delight at the very positive developments in the bilateral relationship in many areas with high trust and South Africa continuously being Vietnam's largest trade partner in Africa; affirmed that the two countries have always been good friends, good partners, always supporting and helping each other and was delighted that both countries now have increasing roles and positions in the international arena.

The Prime Minister said that the two countries have strengths that can complement each other for mutual development and that there is still great room and potential to promote cooperation between the two countries, continuing to expand cooperation into the fields of green transformation, digital transformation, creative economy, renewable energy, communications, and climate change response; and asked South Africa to support Vietnam in soon launching negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).

Thanking President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa for his invitation to attend the G20 Summit in 2025, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam is ready to participate and actively contribute to the common success of this important event, especially in the common priority areas of the two countries such as reducing poverty and inequality, ensuring food security, promoting sustainable development, and accelerating the process of reforming the global governance system.

South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa speaks. (Photo: Duong Giang/VNA)

South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his pleasure to visit Vietnam again, meet Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, a close friend, and witness with his own eyes Vietnam's outstanding and historic achievements after nearly 40 years of renovation, inspiring South Africa and developing countries.

The South African President affirmed that Vietnam is a close friend and reliable partner of South Africa in the Asian region; highly appreciated Vietnam's effective development model and open, active and responsible foreign policy towards the international community; and believed that the two countries have strengths that can complement each other to develop together and enhance their position in the international arena.

The South African President hopes that the two sides will strengthen business connections in the fields of mining, manufacturing, agriculture, electric cars, high-quality human resource training, and maritime...

President Ramaphosa thanked Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh for accepting the invitation to attend the G20 Summit, demonstrating Vietnam's responsible contribution to promoting sustainable development and reforming global governance mechanisms.

President Ramaphosa congratulated and believed that Vietnam would successfully organize the signing ceremony of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime, supporting Vietnam's leading role in digital transformation efforts and global technology governance.

Identifying economic, trade and investment cooperation as the focus of bilateral cooperation in the coming time, the two sides agreed to promote market opening for each side's goods and products and actively negotiate and soon sign more important cooperation documents to facilitate further increase in trade turnover and investment cooperation between the two countries such as the Agreement on Judicial Assistance, the Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation, the Agreement on Visa Exemption for Ordinary Passport Holders, etc.

The two leaders agreed to promptly complete internal procedures to upgrade the bilateral relationship framework to a “Strategic Partnership” in 2025, making the Vietnam-South Africa relationship a model of cooperation between southern countries.

Regarding multilateral cooperation, the two sides agreed to strengthen coordination and support each other's stance on regional and international issues at international forums and organizations, together promote multilateralism and South-South cooperation, and contribute to maintaining peace, stability and cooperation in each region and in the world.

During the visit, the South African President and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will attend the two countries' business forum co-organized by the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry and the South African Embassy in Vietnam./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/thu-tuong-viet-nam-nam-phi-co-nhung-the-manh-co-the-bo-sung-cho-nhau-post1072258.vnp