At the gala performance welcoming President Museveni at Au Co Theatre. Photo courtesy of the theatre

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and a high-ranking delegation of Uganda left Hanoi on November 25 evening, concluding an official visit to Vietnam from November 23 at the invitation of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, VNA reported.

During his stay in Vietnam, President Museveni paid tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum in Hanoi, held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and paid courtesy visits to Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

He also visited the FPT Corporation, Vietnam’s leading IT firm, and the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and attended the Vietnam-Uganda Business Forum.

Receiving President Museveni, who is also Chairman of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Party, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong stressed the significance of his Vietnam visit, saying it would open up a new development period for the ties between the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the NRM and the two countries, especially in the context of the two countries working towards the 50th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties next year.

Trong said that Vietnam attaches importance to promoting its relations with African nations in general and Uganda in particular, adding that huge space still remains for Vietnam and Uganda to boost their cooperation in all spheres.

During his meeting with President Museveni, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said to boost the economic ties, Vietnam and Uganda need to step up trade and investment promotion activities, thereby facilitating the penetration of goods into the East African market and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well.

The PM suggested the two countries continue their mutual support at multilateral forums, especially at the time when Uganda assumes the NAM Chairmanship for 2023-2026.

At the their talks, President Phuc and President Museveni welcomed positive development of bilateral relations, with political-diplomatic ties maintained, and economic cooperation achieving encouraging results. Two-way trade reached USD 14.3 million last year, up 39.8% year-on-year.

Affirming that there remains ample room for bilateral cooperation, they agreed on specific orientations to further boost the ties.

They highlighted the importance of stepping up delegation exchanges and contacts in all channels, and maintaining coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums, particularly the UN and the NAM.

Both asserted their determination to foster economic cooperation and increase two-way trade to be commensurate with the fine political relationship and the market scale of nearly 150 million people of the two nations.

The two leaders also emphasised the importance of agricultural cooperation, considering it one of the pillars of bilateral relations, with priority given to ensuring food security; and agreed to expand collaboration to education-training, information and communications, defence-security, health and tourism.

After their talks, the Presidents witnessed the signing of an agreement on visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders; and four memoranda of understanding on cooperation in diplomacy, education, information and communications, and agriculture technology.

President Museveni attends the Vietnam-Uganda Business Forum.

President Museveni pays tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum in Hanoi. Photo: VNA

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