Photo: Ryanj93 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Vietnam and South Africa are seeking to turn high-level political engagement into wider commercial links, with both countries positioning one another as gateways to Asian and African markets.
New momentum for bilateral ties
Vietnam’s National Assembly Vice President Nguyễn Hồng Diên met South African Deputy Speaker Annelie Lotriet in Cape Town on 1 October, during an official visit aimed at strengthening parliamentary cooperation and broader bilateral relations.
DGBN has also reported on South Africa pushes final private grid tender to Q2 2027.
Original source: Original source.
Vietnam proposed that South Africa’s Parliament encourage measures improving market access for Vietnamese goods and support investment partnerships in electronics, telecommunications, minerals, renewable energy, textiles, supporting industries, artificial intelligence and innovation.
Lotriet said Vietnam could serve as a strategic route for South Africa into Asian markets, while the Vietnamese delegation stressed the potential for deeper economic connections between the two countries.
Trade and industrial cooperation
South Africa is Vietnam’s largest trading partner on the African continent. Vietnamese government figures put two-way trade in 2024 at nearly US$1.7 billion, although the relationship remains small relative to the scale of both economies.
The countries’ industrial interests are increasingly complementary. In June, Vietnam National Chemical Group, known as Vinachem, led a business mission to Johannesburg and held discussions with South African mining and raw-material suppliers, including Foskor and Kropz. Vinachem said it was looking for supplies of phosphate ore, basic chemicals and coal for Vietnam’s chemical and fertiliser industries.
For more context, read DGBN’s coverage of Africa’s financial power map shifts as local capital and new banking hubs rise.
The group also signed a memorandum of understanding with South Africa’s Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association, creating a framework for future business and investment links in industrial chemicals.
Why it matters
For South Africa, closer ties with Vietnam offer another route into fast-growing Asian supply chains and consumer markets, while potentially attracting investment and technology partnerships in mining, manufacturing and clean energy.
For Vietnam, South Africa offers a major commercial foothold in Africa, including access to minerals and industrial inputs needed for its expanding manufacturing base. The relationship also reflects a wider push for South–South cooperation in which African states seek more diversified trade relationships beyond traditional Western and Chinese partners.
The two governments have previously backed work towards elevating their relationship to a strategic partnership, with discussions also covering a possible trade agreement between Vietnam and the Southern African Customs Union. Any gains, however, will depend on practical progress on market access, logistics, investment rules and business-to-business deals.
Next steps
Officials have signalled that trade, investment and parliamentary diplomacy will continue to move together. The immediate test will be whether political commitments produce agreements that benefit workers, exporters and small and medium-sized businesses in both countries—not only major corporations.
Related DGBN reporting includes Egypt and South Africa launch business council to drive African investment.
For wider context, see Ghana part ways with Carlos Queiroz after poor AFCON qualifying start on Diajem Sports Network.
For Black communities across Africa, the growing Vietnam–South Africa relationship is significant because it places African industrial capacity, mineral resources and market access at the centre of a more multipolar global trade system.