Ethiopia and Vietnam have issued today a joint declaration, in which they reaffirmed their willingness to promote bilateral ties in politics, economics and culture.
The text was initialed on the occasion of the visit of the Vietnamese President, Tran Dai Quang, to this African country, where he met the Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, and visited the headquarters of the African Union (AU).
At the AU headquarters, he met with the Commissioner for Social Affairs, Amira Elfadil, to exchange views on regional and international issues of common interest, and discussed measures to strengthen ties with the community bloc.
Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome reiterated that the first visit of a head of state from the Asian nation here marks a significant milestone in raising the ties to a new level.
On economic cooperation, both sides committed to ease business operations and intensify collaboration in potential sectors such as clothing and footwear, consumer products, food processing, agricultural, forestry and aquaculture inputs, and infrastructure development.
They agreed to the early implementation of the Civil Aviation Agreement and supported the opening of direct routes to promote trade, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.
On this occasion, Dai Quang and Teshome signed an agreement on visa waiver for holders of official and diplomatic passports, and memoranda on cooperation between the two Foreign Ministries and encouragement of investment.
They also stressed the need to build political confidence through frequent visits by delegations at different levels and to diversify their areas of collaboration in vocational education and training.
In international forums, they endorsed their respective nominations to United Nations agencies and other global entities.
Addis Ababa acknowledged that Hanoi is the only strong candidate nominated by the Asia-Pacific region for non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 term.
In turn, they agreed to work together to contribute to South-South cooperation and strengthen the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Vietnamese President expressed his support for Ethiopia’s accession to the World Trade Organization and expressed his wish to see a renewed partnership in peacekeeping, sustainable development, climate change response, water security and the fight against HIV.
They also called on all countries to join forces to resolve armed conflicts, to prevent them by peaceful means, through consultations and negotiations, on the basis of United Nations principles and international law.
