Scene at the Asian African Ministerial Meeting held ahead of the Bandung Conference. Source: AFP/VNA
State President Truong Tan Sang will lead a delegation to an international conference from April 22-24 in Jakarta, Indonesia to foster the cooperative ties with other Asian and African nations, including the host.
The visit was made at the invitation of Indonesian President Joko Widodo on the occasion of the 60th Commemoration of the Asian-African Conference, l ater known as the Bandung Conference.
The Vietnamese delegation aims to work with other Asian and African nations to protect the principles of the Bandung Conference and of international law. The theme of the conference this year is “Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Promote World Peace and Prosperity” with multi-faceted partnerships among nations and regions seen as the way forward in addressing emerging global challenges.
The event will present an opportunity for member nations to foster their ties in politics, security, investment, trade, tourism and culture, in a bid to tap this potential for their own economic development.
African nations are in need of experience sharing and investment in technology, to help address poverty, hunger, disease and, in some cases, civil war. Asia is hungry for new markets with rich natural resources, and Africa offers lots of potential.
Held in Bandung from April 18 to 24, 1955, the initial Asian-African Conference marked the first time that 29 Asian and African countries, including Vietnam – represented by late Deputy Prime Minister Pham Van Dong – gathered to join hands to determine their own future.
The conference resulted in the 10-point Bandung Declaration, in which most of the principles of the United Nations were incorporated. They have become the fundamental values in promoting cooperation among nations in the two continents.
The event created a driving force for many colonised countries in the two continents to fight for their independence. It also laid the foundation for the establishment of other frameworks and groups, including the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Group 77 and the South-South Cooperation Agreement.
Currently, Vietnam has diplomatic relations with 52 out of the 55 African nations, and trade relations with all of them. Two-way trade has risen from below 500 million USD in 2005 to some 4.3 billion USD in 2013.
The country has a number of projects in African nations, including Algeria, Maroc, Cameroon, Burundi, Tanzania, and Angola, worth a total of more than 2 billion USD. Most of them are in the sectors of oil and gas, telecommunications, construction, and agriculture.
Labour cooperation between Vietnam and Africa has also seen improvement, with tens of thousands of Vietnamese experts working and living in the continent, in countries such as Libya, Angola and Algeria.-VNA
Đăng ký: VietNam News