Vice President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân receives her Nigerian counterpart Yemi Osinbajo in Hà Nội on Monday during his three-day working visit to Việt Nam. VNA/VNA Photo Văn Điệp

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam and Nigeria agreed to promote in-depth and effective bilateral cooperation, especially in trade and commerce, to a level commensurate with the potential and market size of the two countries.

Vice President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân held talks with her Nigerian counterpart Yemi Osinbajo on Monday during his three-day working visit to Việt Nam after the phone talk between the two sides in September 2021. This was Nigeria's highest-ranking visit to Việt Nam since 2005.

During their talks, Xuân congratulated the Government and people of Nigeria on its major achievements in political stability and socio-economic development.

She praised the efforts and accomplishments of the Nigerian Government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She also expressed her belief that Nigeria will gain more great achievements in the National Development Plan in the period of 2021-2025, contributing to the successful implementation of the 2050 Agenda and putting Nigeria in the top 20 economies in the world.

Speaking highly of Việt Nam’s comprehensive achievements in the renewal process and enhancement of the country's position in regional and multilateral forums, Osinbajo said he believed that Việt Nam would contribute effectively to United Nations’ activities in peacebuilding and development.

The two leaders hailed positive progress in multifaceted collaboration between the two countries over the past year, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the fields of politics, diplomacy, and trade.

Việt Nam and Nigeria have made efforts to bring the trade turnover over US$500 million and become important trade partners in the region.

The two sides reaffirmed the importance of the delegation exchanges at all levels and through all channels, and strengthening political trust and economic cooperation. The two sides agreed to continue to closely coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations. Việt Nam and Nigeria were willing to act as a bridge to establish relations between regional organisations such as the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) and ASEAN.

They vowed to strengthen economic cooperation and increase bilateral trade turnover commensurate with Nigeria's potential and market size of over 200 million people and Việt Nam’s nearly 100 million people.

The Vietnamese side asked Nigeria to create favourable conditions for market access for Vietnamese agricultural products, seafood and consumer goods.

The two leaders agreed that the two countries have plenty of room to cooperate bilaterally in this field, and expressed the desire to strengthen investment cooperation, cooperation in digital economy, green transformation, energy, and defense and security.

The officials welcomed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on defence cooperation, promote the negotiation and signing of agreements on investment promotion and protection, avoidance of double taxation and other specialised cooperation documents in order to strengthen the legal framework and facilitate economic cooperation between the two countries.

The Vice Presidents also exchanged views on several regional and global issues of shared concern. —VNS