Osinbajo: Nigeria ready to collaborate with Vietnam on agriculture, technology

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says Nigeria and Vietnam will benefit from the opportunities existing in agriculture and technology with effective collaboration.

Osinbajo made this assertion on Monday at the presidential villa during a courtesy visit by the Luong Quoe, ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to Nigeria.

He explained that both countries had discussed specific areas of collaboration, including agriculture.

“There was also talk about cashew processing and rice growing and rice processing where Vietnam has shown great innovation and great success. We think that these are areas where we certainly can do a lot more with cooperation,” Osinbajo said.

The VP said that other areas of collaboration between Nigeria and Vietnam would be the interaction of young people actively engaged within the technology space in both countries.

“I know that Vietnam is doing interesting things in technology and telecoms sectors. I think that we should look for opportunities where young people in Nigeria and Vietnam can interact, especially in technology and share ideas, innovation, and their different attainments,” the vice president noted.

“I certainly would like us to explore that possibility, especially in the area of technology with our young people.”

Osinbajo also thanked the Vietnamese government for the donation of medical supplies to the Nigerian Mission in Hanoi.

He listed the items donated as droplet resistant and anti-bacterial fabric masks, medical face masks and Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase (RT-PCR) Diagnostic Panel for SARS-COV 2.

Osinbajo said there was an additional donation of 100,000 high-quality 4-ply anti-bacterial medical face masks by a Vietnamese pharmaceutical company known as ANH THU Pharmaceutical and Medical Equipment Investment Joint Stock Company–PSD Group.

In his remarks, Quoe commended Nigeria’s role in Africa “as being enormous,” adding that Vietnam “would always wish to have Nigeria’s support in multilateral forums, most importantly the United Nations.”

He expressed optimism that Nigeria “would soon recognize Vietnam as a country of full market economy and Nigeria and Vietnam would sign an agreement on investment, promotion, and protection.”

According to him, 5,000- 7,000 Nigerians are studying and helping in the development of the economy of Vietnam.

Quoe also requested the consideration of direct flights between Nigeria and Vietnam.

In 2019, the Vietnamese government had requested to be allowed to increase rice imports into Nigeria and canvassed for stronger ties in cultural and sports exchanges.