Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (right) meets with Canadian PM Mark Carney. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

JOHANNESBURG — Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính met with leaders of countries and international organisations on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday.

Meeting Canadian PM Mark Carney again, PM Chính highly appreciated the positive development in the relationship between the two countries in recent times in all fields, thus creating favourable conditions to promote more substantive and effective cooperation in the coming time.

PM Chính expressed his desire to make economic, trade, investment, and scientific and technological cooperation an important pillar in the bilateral relationship, in order to effectively exploit the complementarity between the two economies and the advantage of being members of the CPTPP Agreement. He proposed Canada open its market to Vietnamese goods, promote investment and connect the supply chain in a sustainable and mutually beneficial manner.

PM Carney affirmed that Canada always considers Việt Nam an important partner in the Indo-Pacific region. He agreed with PM Chính’s cooperation proposals and proposed close coordination to promote the agreed cooperation contents, developing the Việt Nam – Canada Comprehensive Partnership more and more substantially, towards new heights.

On this occasion, PM Chính respectfully invited PM Carney to visit Việt Nam soon, and the Canadian leader happily accepted the invitation.

Meeting with Angolan President João Lourenço, Chair of the African Union (AU) 2025, PM Chính respectfully conveyed the greetings of Party General Secretary Tô Lâm, State President Lương Cường and other Vietnamese leaders to the President.

He affirmed that Việt Nam always attaches importance to traditional and friendly relations and wants to strengthen cooperation with African countries, including Angola, especially in the fields of agriculture and trade, in which the two sides need to promote the export of key products to each other in the context of fierce trade competition today.

As an AU Observer (from December 2023), Việt Nam is ready to continue to make more practical contributions to the AU Agenda 2063, and hopes that Angola will support the promotion of FTA negotiations between Việt Nam and the African Continental Free Trade Area, PM Chính said.

Regarding bilateral relations, the two leaders expressed their delight at the successful visit to Angola by State President Lương Cường in August this year, and the two countries have determined the orientation of building a "cooperative partnership for mutual development" between Việt Nam and Angola to become a model for South-South cooperation.

President Lourenço thanked the sincere sentiments of the Government and people of Việt Nam, affirming his consistent support for Việt Nam in strengthening relations with the AU and African countries, including Angola.

The Angolan President welcomed and pledged to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses interested in investing in Angola, especially in the fields of agriculture, telecommunications, and energy. He hoped that Việt Nam would soon send an inter-sectoral delegation and businesses to visit Angola to promote specific cooperation projects based on the orientations and commitments of the two countries' senior leaders.

On this occasion, PM Chính conveyed the invitation of Party General Secretary Tô Lâm and State President Lương Cường to the Angolan President to soon visit Việt Nam. The Angolan President accepted the invitation with pleasure.

PM Phạm Minh Chính (left) receives Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

Receiving Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud, PM Chính recalled his deep impressions of his visit to Saudi Arabia last year, affirming that Việt Nam always attaches importance to developing the friendship and cooperation with Saudi Arabia more comprehensively and substantially.

He conveyed the regards and invitations of Party General Secretary Tô Lâm, State President Lương Cường and senior leaders of Việt Nam to the King and senior leaders of Saudi Arabia to soon visit Việt Nam to develop bilateral relations to a new height.

The PM suggested both sides expand the market, facilitate bilateral trade, and promote the early launch of negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries as well as the Việt Nam – Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) FTA.

PM Chính also asked Saudi Arabia to increase investment in Việt Nam's potential projects in the fields of strategic infrastructure, logistics, renewable energy, digital transformation, science and technology; support Việt Nam in building an international financial centre in HCM City and Đà Nẵng; and expand cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, defence, food security, and Halal industry.

Highly agreeing with PM Chính’s proposals, the Saudi Arabian FM congratulated Việt Nam on its economic growth this year and said he was impressed with Việt Nam's reform efforts. He affirmed that Saudi Arabia always attaches importance to developing comprehensive cooperation with Việt Nam, the leading dynamic economy in Southeast Asia, saying that the room for cooperation between the two sides is still very large, especially in the current complex world context.

The Saudi Arabian FM said he supports the early negotiation and signing of an FTA between Việt Nam and the GCC; and suggested Việt Nam soon send a business delegation to Saudi Arabia to discuss and promote investment cooperation projects.

On this occasion, the two sides also agreed to strengthen coordination and mutual support at multilateral and international forums, in which the Saudi Arabian FM highly appreciated Việt Nam's objective and constructive stance on the Palestine issue.

Meeting Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed, the two leaders jointly assessed the results of the implementation of agreements and cooperation contents reached during PM Ahmed's visit to Việt Nam in April this year, affirming their determination to develop bilateral relations in an increasingly substantive and comprehensive manner.

PM Chính welcomed the recent opening of a direct flight to Việt Nam by Ethiopian Airlines after the visit. He suggested the two sides continue to promote the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially at the high level; expand markets, and facilitate bilateral trade, including immediately starting negotiations on basic agreements such as an Agreement on Double Taxation Avoidance and an Agreement on Investment Promotion and Protection.

PM Ahmed expressed his great pleasure to meet PM Chính again and thanked the respectful welcome and sincere sentiments that the PM and senior leaders of Việt Nam had given him personally during his visit to Việt Nam on the occasion of attending the Partnership for Green Growth and the Global Goals (P4G) Summit in April this year. He affirmed his appreciation for Việt Nam's economic growth rate, role and position in international issues and at multilateral forums.

The Ethiopian PM agreed with the proposals raised by PM Chính, affirming that the Ethiopian Government will closely coordinate with Vietnamese partners to effectively implement the agreements reached between the two countries.

PM Phạm Minh Chính (right) and Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

Receiving Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, PM Chính affirmed that Việt Nam always attaches importance to developing traditional relations with African countries, including Zimbabwe.

The Vietnamese leader suggested the two sides increase the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially at the high level; expand import-export markets, and promote cooperation in potential areas such as agriculture, telecommunications, 5G, mineral exploitation, construction materials, textiles and footwear.

PM Chính also proposed the two sides soon study and sign a bilateral trade agreement and an investment protection agreement, and hoped that Zimbabwe would support Việt Nam in negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).

Vice President Chiwenga expressed his admiration for Việt Nam's history of fighting for national liberation and reunification, and its achievements in innovation, reform and development today, saying that this is a model that Zimbabwe wants to learn from.

He said that the Zimbabwean President has appointed a Special Envoy to promote investment cooperation from Việt Nam, hoping that Vietnamese enterprises will invest in the fields of agriculture, mining and infrastructure. The Vice President emphasised that there is still a lot of room for cooperation between the two countries and hopes to soon send working delegations to Việt Nam to learn about socio-economic development experiences and promote cooperation, especially in the fields of manufacturing industry, telecommunications, agriculture, minerals, and building a financial centre.

Receiving Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PM Chính expressed his deep gratitude for WHO's care and support for Việt Nam in recent times. He emphasised that during the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the timely support of WHO and the Director-General himself, Việt Nam had responded effectively and controlled the epidemic well.

The PM said that Việt Nam is implementing many policies to ensure health care and improve people's health, always considering people's health as the top priority. Sharing the fact that Việt Nam has recently suffered many historic storms and floods, causing huge losses in human lives and property, leading to the risk of post-flood epidemics, he hoped to continue receiving support from WHO in responding to and preventing epidemics arising from natural disasters.

Sharing with Việt Nam, the WHO Director-General expressed his deep condolences for the losses caused by storms and floods. He thanked the Vietnamese Government for its strong commitments to the health sector and people's health care; and expressed his admiration for Việt Nam's strong leadership and timely policies in COVID-19 prevention.

Regarding the risk of epidemics after storms and floods, the WHO Director-General said the organisation currently has an Emergency Response Fund and is ready to mobilise resources from this fund to support Việt Nam. — VNA/VNS