Vietnam, Senegal seek stronger economic, trade ties

Dakar, January 16 (VNA) – Vietnam wants to develop further friendly relations and multifaceted cooperation with Senegal, stated Vietnamese Ambassador to Algeria and Senegal Pham Quoc Tru. Tru made the statement while presented a copy of the Vietnamese President’s credentials to Senegalese Minister for Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad Mankeur Ndiaye, who expected the bilateral ties to grow more strongly in the near future. The meeting took place as part of Tru’s recent visit to Senegal from January 10- 13, where he also met with top officials of the Senegalese ministries of and post telecommunications, investment promotion, agriculture and trade. At these meetings, the two sides reviewed economic and trade cooperation in the recent past and discussed a range of measures to boost future cooperative ties. The Senegalese officials called on Vietnamese businesses to invest in the West African country, where they could take advantage of a young population, stable politics, convenient transport, investment incentives and favourable tariffs for exports to the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the EU and the US. Both sides agreed to complete a legal framework, such as the signing of a memorandum of understanding on industrial and economic cooperation, as well as several agreements on investment promotion and protection, double tax avoidance, and favourable entry and residency for investors from both countries. They also agreed to continue implementing agreements signed previously and consider the establishment of a business council. They said the exchange of business delegations and their participation in international expositions hosted by Vietnam or Senegal and other promotion events within the Francophone community are important to promoting their partnerships. The officials also stressed the role of diplomatic representatives in exchanging information about each other’s market as well as supporting their enterprises./.