H.E Ali Mohamed Shein, President of Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, recently paid an official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan.
Vietnam and Tanzania established diplomatic relations in 1965. Tanzania offered Vietnam its enthusiastic support during the war. It now has close collaboration with Vietnam at international and regional forums.
The official visit to Vietnam by President Ali Mohamed Shein this time aimed at consolidating the bilateral political relationship, exchanging methods to accelerate and expand business cooperation in agriculture, fishery, education and healthcare. Vietnam’s experience in the Doi Moi process and economic development was also relevant.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam had a meeting with President Ali Mohamed Shein, in which he affirmed that Vietnam attached great importance to strengthening cooperation with Tanzania in all areas.
President Ali Mohamed Shein expressed his agreement to Prime Minister Dung’s statement and admiration for the important achievements Vietnam gained in Doi Moi and the national development cause. He also wished that Vietnam would share its experience in developing the country, particularly in relation to hunger eradication and poverty alleviation. He desired that cooperation in agriculture and fishery would be further enhanced.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and President Ali Mohamed Shein agreed that it is necessary for Vietnam and Zanzibar to continue to exchange delegations at all levels in order to foster bilateral cooperation for mutual benefits. In addition, the two parties should accelerate collaboration in agriculture and fishery, as well as create favourable conditions for enterprises to expand investment and business cooperation, especially in telecommunications and bilateral trade.
On this occasion, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) held a meeting among Zanzibar President, his delegation and Vietnamese enterprises.
According to Dr Vu Tien Loc, VCCI President, this meeting helped to boost collaboration between Vietnam and Zanzibar in particular and Tanzania in general. Based on the traditionally good ties, the relationship has now been expanded in lots of areas, particularly in economics and commercial cooperation. The bilateral trade turn-over per annum is around US$100 million and the two parties are seeking opportunities to raise the turn-over.
“Zanzibar is a potential market, capable of collaborating with Vietnam in a lot of areas. Vietnam and Zanzibar can access each other’s market. Thereby, Vietnam will serve as a bridge for Zanzibar to approach ASEAN markets and vice versa, Zanzibar will help Vietnam enter the vast African market,” said Dr Loc.
Dr Loc added that Viettel, a military telecommunications group, was preparing to invest in telecommunications of Zanzibar. This is a relatively potential field. Mr Loc hoped that Viettel would be the pioneer investor and create a domino effect for other Vietnamese enterprises to enter Zanzibar for investment.
“This meeting is one of the very first activities. It is hoped that more and more Zanzibar delegations will come to Vietnam for detailed discussions in order to enhance cooperation. Vietnam and Tanzania, of which Zanzibar is a part, were close allies in the past, are close allies at present and will continue this relationship into the future,” said Dr Loc.
President Ali Mohamed Shein said that the delegation of high-ranking officials of Zanzibar meeting Vietnamese enterprises this time was comprised of representatives from Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Trade and Investment Promotion Agency. “Vietnam and Tanzania have established a strong friendship. We, therefore, have lots of potential for development, particularly given the fact that we currently have a lot of opportunities for collaboration,” stated President Ali Mohamed Shein.
Quynh Anh
Vietnamese
