President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (right) and his Sierra Leonean counterpart Julius Maada Bio. Photo: Nhan dan (People) Newspaper

During their talks held in Hanoi on March 15, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Sierra Leonean counterpart Julius Maada Bio expressed joy at the positive development of the bilateral relations across spheres.

President Phuc highlighted the sigificance of the visit, which is taking place in the lead up to the 40th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relations (1982-2022), according to VOV.

The congratulated Sierra Leone on its achievements in maintaining stability and socio-economic development, combating the Covid-19 pandemic, and ensuring social security under the leadership of President Julius Maada Bio.

Phuc believes that Sierra Leone will continue to grow strongly and soon achieve the goals set out in the "Mid-term National Development Plan 2019-2023".

The Sierra Leonean President expressed his honor to pay his first visit to Vietnam, while emphasising that this is a vivid manifestation of the sound relationship between Vietnam and Sierra Leone. He said he hopes that the visit will continue to strengthen cooperative relations between the two countries in the coming time.

During their talks held in Hanoi on March 15, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Sierra Leonean counterpart Julius Maada Bio expressed joy at the positive development of the bilateral relations across spheres. Photo: Nhan dan (People) Newspaper

He was greatly impressed by Vietnam's socio-economic development achievements in recent years and applauded the results of Vietnam's response to the Covid-19 pandemic and economic recovery in the current period.

During the talks, the two leaders expressed their delight at the good development of the Vietnam - Sierra Leone relations in many fields, with political and diplomatic cooperation becoming increasingly closer and effective, especially in delegation exchange between the two countries' heads of state.

At the multilateral level, the two countries regularly coordinate and support each other's candidacy for seats at multilateral forums and organisations, especially the United Nations.

Regarding economic ties, despite bilateral trade turnover remaining modest amid the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, it still maintained its growth momentum, treble from US$17 million in 2018 to US$ 51.5 million in 2021. The two countries have also cooperated in the fields of agriculture and investment.

Cooperation orientations

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Sierra Leonean counterpart Julius Maada Bio inspect the guard of honour. Photo: Nhan dan (People) Newspaper

Phuc and Maada Bio compared notes on orientations to augment cooperation between the two nations in the time ahead.

With regard to political diplomacy, the pair consented to continue maintaining high-level visits and meetings, and delegation exchange at all levels, boost coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations, and the Non-Aligned Movement, support expanding cooperation at the African regional level through the African Union.

The two leaders agreed to consider economic development a key area of cooperation as they underlined the need to make the most of potential and strengths of the two economies.

Furthermore, they pledged to seriously implement agreements reached to further promote trade cooperation, including rice trade, encourage and create favorable conditions for enterprises of the two countries to seek opportunities for business and investment cooperation.

Due to similar climatic and soil conditions, the two sides affirmed their wish to make agriculture a pillar of bilateral cooperation in which they learn and share experience to bolster agricultural cooperation within the bilateral framework as well as the tripartite cooperation between the two countries, along with the participation of international development organizations, industrialized countries and investors from the private sector.

Host and guest also discussed measures to expand cooperation in fields such as high technology, telecommunications, digital transformation, innovation, education and training.

After the talks, they witnessed the signing of three bilateral cooperation documents between ministries and agencies in the fields of diplomacy, agriculture and fisheries, thereby creating a foundation for propelling cooperation between Vietnam - Sierra Leone forward.

President Julius Maada Bio meets Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh

President Julius Maada Bio meets Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (right). Photo: VGP

The same day, President Julius Maada Bio meets Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, during which the guest leader affirmed that Sierra Leone attaches importance to the development of its friendship and cooperation with Vietnam, VietnamPlus reported.

Praising Vietnam’s recent socio-economic progresses, the Sierra Leonean leader expressed his hope for stronger bilateral collaboration in trade, investment, telecommunications, education and training.

He added that Sierra Leone admires Vietnam's great achievements in agriculture and looks for Vietnam’s support and experience sharing in the field.

In response, Chinh congratulated Sierra Leone for its national construction in the past time and affirmed Vietnam always treasures its amity and cooperation with African nations, including Sierra Leone.

He stressed that the countries have tremendous potential to expand their cooperation, particularly in the sectors of trade, investment, agriculture, technology, education-training, security, defence, and people-to-people exchange.

The PM requested Vietnamese and Sierra Leonean ministries, sectors and businesses closely work together to effectively implement their cooperation agreements. It is also necessary for ministry leaders of the nations to meet up and discuss specific measures to boost their partnerships, while State agencies and enterprises of both sides should step up exchanges and search for business and investment cooperation opportunities.

Chinh said that Vietnam is willing to work with Sierra Leone to find suitable models to promote collaboration in the agricultural sector, particularly in rice cultivation and processing.

Both leaders shared the belief that the Vietnam-Siera Leone friendship and cooperation will grow continuously for the sake of their people and for peace and development in the region and in the world.

They also took the occasion to discuss Covid-19 prevention and control, economic development, mutual support at multilateral forums, the nations’ cooperation with organisations in West Africa and Southeast Asia, and the situations in Africa and the South China Sea (Bien Dong Sea)./.

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