President meets with Ethiopian Prime Minister

Addis Ababa (VNA) – President Tran Dai Quang met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa on August 23 as part of his ongoing State visit to the African country.

The host expressed his belief that the visit will help enhance political trust and mutual understanding between the two countries as well as create an important premise to bring the bilateral cooperation to a new level in a pragmatic and effective manner for the aspirations and benefits of their people.

President Quang hailed efforts by the Ethiopian government and PM Abiy Ahmed in reforming the economy and building a peaceful and stable environment for development.

The two leaders agreed to further promote cooperation via increasing the exchange of Party, State, National Assembly and government delegations in addition to people-to-people exchange.

Regarding economic cooperation, both Vietnam and Ethiopia boast huge population of around 100 million people, large market, abundant source of labour, and high speed of development.

The two sides will make better use of cooperation opportunities, promote trade exchanges, and expand the list of high-quality goods with competitive prices while increasing information sharing and facilitating businesses’ investment promotion.

President Quang suggested Ethiopia enable Vietnamese firms, including the telecom group Viettel, to seek investment cooperation opportunities in Ethiopia in telecommunications, trade, agriculture, aviation, and construction of small and medium-sized hydropower plants.

As regards agriculture, the host and guest said Vietnam’s experience in agricultural cultivation could be applied in Ethiopia to help the country ensure food security and agricultural development.

PM Abiy Ahmed said 80 percent of the Ethiopian population relies on agriculture for their livelihoods, so the country places a high premium on the sector.

Ethiopia highly values Vietnam’s agricultural experience and development, especially rice and coffee cultivation, he said, expressing his hope that Vietnam will assist his country in human resources training and share experience in agriculture, which is the main cooperation orientation in the coming time.

The Vietnamese leader hailed the active role of Ethiopia as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2017-2018 period as well as its crucial role in Africa.

He proposed Ethiopia serve as a bridge to connect ASEAN and Vietnam in particular with African countries and the African Alliance. 

He suggested the two countries enhance coordination, experience sharing, and mutual support at international forums and within the framework of the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the South-South cooperation as well as share experience in UN peacekeeping activities.

On the occasion, President Quang conveyed the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the Ethiopian Prime Minister to visit Vietnam in an appropriate time.

Vietnam and Ethiopia established diplomatic ties in 1976.

They have signed a framework agreement on cooperation in culture and another on collaboration in economy and science-technology, as well as a cooperation deal between the Vietnamese and Ethiopian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Bilateral trade hit 11.3 million USD in 2017, of which Vietnam exported 2.2 million USD worth of goods, mainly garment-textiles, footwear, and chemical products.

In April 2014, Ethiopia recognised Vietnam’s market economy status.-VNA