Sources : Ministère vietnamien des Affaires Etrangères , 26/05/2009
VNA -Algerian ambassador to Vietnam Naceur Boucherit, who is also head of the African diplomatic mission in the country, has affirmed the special relationship between Vietnam and Africa.
The Algerian diplomat made the affirmation at an interview with a correspondent of the Vietnam News Agency on May 24, on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the African Day in Vietnam (May 25).
This is the fourth year the African Day was held in Vietnam and eight African embassies in Hanoi will introduce various cultural characteristics and culinary arts of their countries to Vietnamese friends, the ambassador said.
Naceur Boucherit also said that Vietnam and Africa shared a lot of similarities in building national independent states and conducting industrialisation.
These similarities will facilitate both sides in development and international integration, the diplomat said.
He said the two sides had actively exchanged their high-ranking delegations and in the near future many African leaders would visit Vietnam to boost economic and political cooperation.
Naceur Boucherit noted that all African countries want to bolster ties with Vietnam and cooperate with the latter in the fields of agriculture, health, education and economics.
He also reminded of the presence of thousands of Vietnamese agricultural and medical experts in African countries such as Algeria, Mozambique and Angola since the 80s which showed a model of effective cooperation.
He said the two sides’ cooperation in the fields of economics and trade has seen numerous achievements and spectacular growths.
In 2007, Vietnam and Africa’s two-way trade was only one billion USD, which, however, doubled in 2008. The ambassador expressed his hope that the figure would increase to 2.5 billion USD in 2009 and three billion USD in 2010./.
