Uganda and Vietnam will expand bilateral cooperation to other fields besides agriculture to match their potential and take advantage of the signed agreements.
The agreement was reached during talks in Hanoi on November 24 between Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni who is in Hanoi for an official visit to Vietnam.
The two leaders emphasized the importance of agricultural cooperation, considering it one of the pillars of bilateral cooperation, with priority given to ensuring national food security. Through multi-stakeholder cooperation models with the participation and funding of development partners such as the European Union and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the two countries have increased cooperation in food production.
Besides agriculture, they suggested the two countries expand cooperation to potential fields such as education-training, information and communication, defense-security, health, information technology, tourism, oil and gas exploitation, and vaccine research and production.
The two sides expressed their desire to promote investment cooperation by increasing the exchange of information on the investment environment and opportunities and by supporting their businesses in boosting investment cooperation activities.
They agreed to effectively implement the signed cooperation documents, and at the same time accelerate negotiations for early signing other important documents on investment promotion and protection, taxation or other fields in order to strengthen the legal framework and facilitate cooperation, especially in economy, between the two countries.
Despite the geographical distance, the two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Uganda last year reached US$14.3 million, representing an increase of 39.8% compared to the 2020 figure. Their investment also amounted to nearly US$40 million, mostly focusing on mining in Uganda.
During the talks, the two sides agreed to further promote close coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), to serve as a bridge for each other to establish relations with regional organizations such as the East African Community (EAC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed belief Uganda would successfully host the NAM 2023 summit and fulfil its role as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) for 2023-2026.
Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni congratulated Vietnam on successfully assuming its UNSC role for 2020-2021 and being elected to the UN Human Rights Council for 2023-2025. He said he believes Vietnam will continue to make effective contributions to the United Nations’ efforts to ensure peace, security and development.
The two sides also exchanged a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern, and shared views on solving problems by peaceful measures on the basis of international law.
President Museveni invited President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to pay an official visit to Uganda and attend the NAM 2023 summit.
The invitation was accepted with pleasure.
After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a number of cooperation documents, including an agreement on visa exemption for official and diplomatic passport holders, and four memoranda of understanding on cooperation in the fields of diplomacy, education, information and communication, and agricultural technology
