This the first visit by the President of Côte d’Ivoire's National Assembly, and also by a high-ranking leader of the West African country, to Vietnam since the two set up their diplomatic ties 48 years ago.
Vietnam and Côte d’Ivoire established diplomatic ties on October 6, 1975. We are pleased to witness good developments in the relations between the two countries through the enhancement of high-level delegations and effective implementation of bilateral cooperation mechanisms.
Côte d’Ivoire sent a number of high-ranking delegations to Vietnam such as Secretary of State in charge of investment promotion (2018), Minister and Chief of the President’s Office and Minister of Digital Economy (2019), Foreign Minister (2019) and President of General Confederation of Enterprises (2022). Vietnam also sent a delegation led by Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Communications and Education (June 2019) and Deputy Prime Minister (November 2019) to Côte d’Ivoire.
The two countries have regularly coordinated and supported each other in international forums, especially Côte d’Ivoire's support for Vietnam's admission to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2014-2016 and 2023-2025 tenures and United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure.
The Communist Party of Vietnam establishes ties with the Côte d’Ivoire’s ruling Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) Party and both opposition parties, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire – African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA). The parliamentary friendship and cooperation between the two countries has also been promoted mainly through meetings, contacts, and mutual support at multilateral parliamentary forums such as the International Parliamentary Union (IPU), the International Parliamentary Union (IPU), and Parliamentary Union of Francophonie (APF).
As Vietnam’s second largest trading partner in Africa and Vietnam’s fourth largest export market in this continent, with a trade turnover of 1.04 billion USD in 2022, Côte d’Ivoire has great potential to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam.
Their economic and trade relations have been developing in a positive direction. Since 2015, trade turnover between Vietnam and Côte d’Ivoire has grown rapidly, mainly thanks to Vietnam’s promotion of rice exports to Côte d’Ivoire and imports of raw cashews and cotton from Côte d’Ivoire.
The Vietnamese community in Côte d’Ivoire has about 300 people, of whom 50% are permanent residents. There are nearly 1,000 small traders trading cashew nuts between the two countries. This is an important bridge that has actively contributed to promoting the friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
Taking place in the context that Vietnam and Côte d’Ivoire have maintained a good cooperative relationship for the past 48 years, the visit to Vietnam by President of Côte d’Ivoire's National Assembly Adama Bictogo shows the respect of Côte d’Ivoire’s leaders to the relations with Vietnam and their wishes to strengthen cooperation on the parliamentary channel between the two countries and in many fields, especially economy-trade, transportation, rice cultivation, agricultural product processing, education, healthcare, and sports.
The Party and State of Vietnam have always affirmed the consistent policy of attaching importance to good friendship and cooperation with Côte d’Ivoire and African countries, wishing to deepen the trust between the two countries in all fields while further boosting cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries and expanding cooperation in many other areas, especially improving the efficiency of economic cooperation and strengthening cooperation at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the International Organisation of the Francophonie.
President of Côte d’Ivoire's National Assembly Adama Bictogo’s visit to Vietnam marks a new development in the friendship between the two countries, making bilateral parliamentary cooperation in a more effective and substantive manner, creating momentum for strengthening cooperation between the two countries in many fields.
