During the visit, the visiting delegates met with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party in South Africa; South African businesses and associations in the fruit industry and with Hoang Sy Cuong, Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa together with Vietnamese representative agencies here.

At a working session with the South African Fruit Import-Export Association in Cape Town, businesses exchanged information on the export situation of South Africa's fresh fruits, including fruits with hard seeds, especially grapes. These are South Africa's signature fruit. Grape export is over 4 million tons for about US $5 billion annually, mainly to the European market, accounting for over 35% of output.

The working delegation of Hai Duong province met with Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Hoang Sy Cuong at the working session with Vietnamese Embassy in South Africa and Vietnamese representative agencies in South Africa on June 15 (Photo: vietnam.vn).

Particularly in the Vietnamese market, South Africa is currently cooperating to export small quantities of oranges. Currently, the fruit association is working on the plan to export grapes into the Vietnamese market and to cooperate with South African businesses to utilize deep processing techniques. The goal is to bring Vietnamese and South African fruits to consumers in the two countries.

Secretary of Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee Tran Duc Thang proposed that businesses of the two countries, through the two Embassies, coordinate closely to promote trade of fruit. There are many opportunities for South African businesses to invest in preservation and processing systems and to build a fruit distribution center in Hai Duong.

Regarding other potential investment areas, the province is interested in promoting trade and investment promotion activities with Middle East-African countries. For example, Hai Duong province wants to learn from South Africa's experience in resort tourism and wildlife conservation.

One of the highlights of the visit was the Investment Promotion Conference in South Africa. It was organized by Hai Duong province in coordination with the Vietnamese Embassy in South Africa and the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

About 50 representatives of South African businesses in many fields such as energy, medical pharmaceuticals, mining, and financial investment participated.

At the conference, Secretary of Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee Tran Duc Thang summarized Hai Duong's socio-economic development situation and its potential for investment and cooperation opportunities with South African businesses. Thang stressed that the attractive areas include agriculture, industry and services and that the province is committed to creating the most favorable conditions for South African businesses.

Neil Pollock, Vice President of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, believes that South African businesses better understand Vietnam in general and Hai Duong province in particular thanks to the information provided by the leaders of Hai Duong province. On the other hand, South Africa also welcomes investors from Vietnam and the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be an effective bridge, said Pollock, to connect businesses with interest in learning more about the investment environment in Hai Duong and vice versa.

From June 14-18, the delegation also visited a number of South African flower production, especially those using processing and preservation facilities with high technology.