The visit affirms the Vietnamese Party and State’s consistent policy of attaching importance to the traditional friendly relations with African countries, including Guinea-Bissau.
Located in West Africa, on the Atlantic coast, Guinea-Bissau is rich in natural resources, with its economy mainly dependent on agriculture. Cashew nuts are the main export and the main source of foreign currency for its economy. Guinea-Bissau’s exports also include beans, palm oil, and other agricultural products. The country’s main imports are petrol and oil, food, building materials and machinery.
In recent years, Guinea-Bissau’s economy has witnessed signs of improvement, with GDP reaching nearly 2 billion USD in 2023 and income per capita at about 1,000 USD. Its economy expanded 4.2% in 2023 and is forecast to grow by 4.7% in 2024.
Guinea-Bissau pursues a foreign policy of non-alignment and maintains good relations with major countries and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). Recently, Guinea-Bissau has made many efforts to improve its position in the international arena; it successfully assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 2023 and will assume the rotating chairmanship of the CPLP in 2025.
Guinea-Bissau is actively promoting relations with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and notably established a strategic partnership with China in July 2024. Guinea-Bissau is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, ECOWAS, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and so on.
Vietnam and Guinea-Bissau have a traditional friendship. The two countries established diplomatic relations on September 30, 1973, and regularly coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially within the framework of the United Nations. Recently, Guinea-Bissau supported Vietnam to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 term and the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term.
Trade is the main area of economic cooperation between Vietnam and Guinea-Bissau. Currently, Vietnam is the third largest export market of Guinea-Bissau, while Guinea-Bissau has been one of the five largest African suppliers of raw cashew nuts to Vietnam for many years. The total trade value between the two countries in 2023 reached nearly 170 million USD, mainly raw cashew nuts exported to Vietnam. Vietnam’s primary exports to Guinea-Bissau are rice, equipment, chemical products, and fruit and vegetables.
The two countries signed an Agreement on Cultural, Economic, Scientific-Technical and Trade Cooperation in 1994 and a Memorandum of Understanding on Trade and Industrial Cooperation in 2014.
Cooperation between Vietnam and Guinea-Bissau, especially trade cooperation, has great potential. During his visit to Vietnam in 2018, the Guinea-Bissau Minister of Commerce, Tourism and Handicrafts affirmed that Guinea-Bissau has a need to import large quantities of rice from Vietnam.
In March 2023, Guinea-Bissau Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development sent a letter to the Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development expressing his desire to visit Vietnam and learn from its experience in enhancing the development of strategic value chains in order to improve food security and economic growth.
The official visit to Vietnam by Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and his spouse provides an opportunity for the leaders of the two countries to discuss measures to promote relations in traditional areas of cooperation such as politics, economics, trade, agriculture, fisheries, and manufacturing; and at the same time expand cooperation in new areas such as construction of infrastructure and seaports, and mining.
May Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and his spouse’s official visit to Vietnam a great success, creating momentum to promote and expand cooperation between the two countries while contributing to peace and stability in the region and the world.
