Guinea-Bissau President begins official visit to Vietnam

President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embaló (C) and his spouse arrive in Hanoi on September 5 evening, starting a four-day official visit to Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)

According to Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang, this is the first visit to Vietnam by the President of Guinea-Bissau since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1973.

Over the past five decades, the two countries have maintained a strong political relationship, reflected through the exchange of delegations. Guinea-Bissau has actively supported Vietnam at various multilateral forums. In July, Guinea-Bissau was one of the two African countries sending a delegation to pay respects to late Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

In the economic sphere, bilateral trade has been steadily increasing, from 56.1 million USD in 2020 to nearly 170 million USD in 2023. Vietnam is Guinea-Bissau's third-largest export market, while the latter has been one of the former’s top five suppliers of raw cashew nuts from Africa for many years.

The first high-level visit between Vietnam and Guinea-Bissau reaffirms that Vietnam attaches importance to developing traditional friendship with countries and partners in Africa, including Guinea-Bissau, Hang said, adding that this also aims to lay a foundation for promoting multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, not only in traditional areas such as politics, economy, trade, agriculture, fisheries, and processing industries, but also in new spheres like port infrastructure development and mining.

During his stay, Embaló will hold talks with Party General Secretary and President To Lam, as well as meet with other senior leaders of Vietnam and participate in several important diplomatic activities.