NDO/VNA – President Julius Maada Bio, his wife and a high-raking delegation of Sierra Leone left Ho Chi Minh City on March 20, concluding a week-long official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

During his stay, President Julius Maada Bio and President Nguyen Xuan Phuc held talks on March 15 and witnessed the signing of three bilateral cooperation documents in sectors in diplomacy, agriculture and fisheries between ministries and sectors.

President Julius Maada Bio also met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.

At meetings, the leaders of the two countries expressed their pleasure at the sound development of bilateral ties in various fields. They discussed and reached high consensus on orientations to promote bilateral cooperation in the future, considering economy a key area of cooperation. They affirmed to make agriculture into a pillar in bilateral cooperation, and increase agricultural cooperation within bilateral and tripartite cooperation frameworks with the participation of international development organisations and industrialised countries, as well as the private sector.

Besides, the leaders focused their discussion on measures to expand cooperation in such fields as high technology, telecommunications, digital transformation, innovation, education and training.

President Julius Maada Bio and his entourage paid tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum, and laid flowers at the Heroic Martyrs’ Monument in Hanoi.

He toured FPT University, witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement on promoting national digital transformation and training digital human resources for Sierra Leone between the Sierra Leone Presidential Office and the FPT Group, attended a Vietnam-Sierra Leone business forum and made a tour of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS).

He and his entourage also made a working visit to southern An Giang province, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City.