CHARACTERIZATION OF COOPERATION RELATIONS BETWEEN ANGOLA AND VIETNAM
- Political
Angola established diplomatic relations with Vietnam on November 12, 1975, the day after our country ascended its independence, through the declaration of recognition of Angola’s independence issued by the Vietnamese Government and decided to exchange Embassies. But the first political contact between the two countries began in 1971, when Dr. António Agostinho Neto, President of the MPLA visited that country, as part of the process of struggle for National Independence and the support that Vietnam provided to the liberation movements in Africa.
In 1978, the two countries signed the General Cooperation Agreement, an instrument through which the governments of both countries agreed on the type of relationship in all areas of their peoples’ lives, which gave rise to the signing of several other legal instruments facilitating the strengthening of economic and technical-scientific cooperation relations.
This agreement also allowed the exchange of visits at various levels, especially by Angola, of the visits made by the Vice-President of the Republic, His Excellency Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, in February 2012, by the Secretary of the President of the Republic for Judicial and Legal Affairs, Dr. Florbela Rocha Araújo, in March 2013, by the Minister of the Interior, Ângelo de Barros Veiga Tavares, in October 2014.
From the Vietnamese part, Angola recorded the visits of the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs in August 2015, the Deputy Minister of Trade in July 2014 and another delegation of officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2012, the visit of the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs in May 2018, as well as the visit of the Vice-President of the People’s and Supreme Attorney’s Office of that country in December 2019.
- 2. Economic
Under the General Cooperation Agreement signed in Luanda on 6 October 1978, the Bilateral Commission was created, which meets every two years, and the 7th Commission is in preparation and the Parties must set the dates, but conditioned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This agreement allowed the implementation of cooperation actions in the most varied areas of the economic and social life of the two countries and the signing of several other legal instruments that are described below:
A trade agreement was signed on 6 October 1978;
Cooperation agreement in the cultural field signed on 6 October 1978;
Special agreements on the sending of Vietnamese exports to the Republic of Angola were signed on 20 April 1981 and 16 August 1984 respectively;
Protocol of the Iª. Session of the Bilateral Commission for Economic Cooperation, technical-scientific, signed on 31 July 1986;
Protocol of the Second Session of the Bilateral Commission for
Economic; Technical-Scientific and Cultural, signed on October 31,
1987;
Protocol of the 3rd Session of the Bilateral Commission for Economic, Technical-Scientific Cultural Cooperation, signed on 4 May 1989;
Protocol on Scientific and Technological Cooperation, signed on 10
May 2002;
Economic, Commercial, Technical, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation Agreement signed on 15 October 2002;
Cooperation Protocol between the Angolan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam signed on 25 October 2002;
Protocol for Cooperation in agriculture signed on 25 October 2002;
Agreement on Visa Exemption in Diplomatic and Service Passports signed on 3 April 2008;
Cooperation Protocol between Sonangol E.P. and Petro Vietnam in April 2008 and a Memorandum of Understanding laying out the general lines of cooperation between the two companies;
Verbal Process of the IV Session of the Bilateral Commission for Economic, Technical-Scientific and Cultural Cooperation held from 28 to 30 April 2008 in Hanoi;
Verbal Process of the Fifth Session of the Bilateral Commission for Economic, Technical-Scientific and Cultural Cooperation, held from 29 to 30 March 2011 in Luanda;
Verbal Proceedings of the 6th Session of the Bilateral Commission held from 28 to 30 October 2013 in Hanoi;
Agreement in the field of Aquaculture Fisheries between the Ministry of Fisheries and the Sea of the Republic of Angola and the Ministry of Fisheries of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. signed in July 2004, signed in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The above-mentioned legal instruments provide for the development and deepening of cooperation actions in the following areas:
- Agriculture;
- Industry;
- Construction;
- Transport;
- Telecommunications;
- Trade;
- Education;
- Health;
- Former Combatants.
