President Mugabe expressed admiration for the cause of the national struggle for national liberation as well as the major achievements in the Doi Moi (Renewal) process and development of the Vietnamese people.

Mr. Mugabe expressed his wish to further promote friendship, and cooperation between Zimbabwe and Vietnam in various fields, especially in economics, trade and investment.

Currently, bilateral relations remain modest and do not match the potential cooperation of both countries.

At the occasion, ambassador Nguyen Manh Hung affirmed the Vietnamese Party and State’s foreign policies hold priorities to develop friendship and traditional cooperation with African nations, including the Republic of Zimbabwe.

The Ambassador also highlighted Zimbabwe’s efforts in the process of recovering and developing the national economy, saying he would do his best to promote friendship and cooperation between the two countries in the future.

The seminar, jointly held by the Vietnam Academy of Social Science, the Vietnam-Japan Culture Exchange Centre, and the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam, is aimed at promoting Vietnam-Japan strategic cooperation partnership, direct investment, support industry, human resources, and cultural exchange.

Japan is now Vietnam’s biggest international foreign direct investor with one third of the country’s foreign investment and one of Vietnam’s three largest importers.

The two countries’ cooperation in culture, science and technology, education and training, and politics has also been developed.

During the meetings with the Vietnamese diplomat, Quebec’s senior officials praised Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements as well as its efforts in implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

They said Mr Vuong’s visit created favourable conditions for both sides to boost cooperation in education and training, research on sociology, urbanization, waste treatment and environmental protection and insurance for rice growers.

Ambassador Minh introduced the Canadian officials to areas where Vietnam hopes to attract more foreign investment as well as the country’s policies for priority development.

He also asked the Quebec administration to create ways to support Vietnamese students to study self-sufficiently in Canada.

Through the role as a coordinator for relief aid and job creation for World Vision projects, Mr Wattanapong established relations between his organisation and Vietnam in 1988. With his great efforts, he has developed World Vision Vietnam into one of the biggest non-governmental foreign organisations in the country.

In his speech, Mr Hong praised Mr. Wattanapong’s contributions as well as World Vision’s role in supporting humanitarian activities and development in Vietnam which has helped people around the world gain a better understanding of the country.

Mr. Wattanapong expressed his delight at receiving this noble award from the VUFO and said he will continue to cooperate with Vietnam for humanitarian purposes and the nation’s development.