Big opportunities for Vietnam-Egypt economic, trade ties: Deputy FM

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang (L) and First Deputy Speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives Ahmed Saad El-Din Mohamed Abd El-Rehim. (Photo: VNA)

During an interview recently granted to Vietnam News Agency in Cairo, Ngoc said in terms of politics, the visit was a practical activity marking the 60th anniversary of Vietnam-Egypt diplomatic ties, contributing to consolidating traditional and trustworthy friendship with Egypt, a leading partner of Vietnam in the Middle East and North Africa. High-ranking Egyptian leaders met and held talks with Deputy PM Quang.

It could be said that the visit has created a strong driving force for comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and Egypt, he said.

According to him, both sides reached consensus on a range of important measures to lift two-way trade to 1 billion USD from around 600 million USD last year.

They agreed to create favourable conditions for each other's major export items, promote cooperation on Halal products, and establish the Vietnam-Egypt Business Council in the coming time. They will organise the sixth meeting of the Vietnam-Egypt Joint Committee while strengthening financial-monetary and locality-to-locality collaboration.

The capital cities of Hanoi and Cairo signed a friendship and cooperation agreement while another between the State Bank of Vietnam and the Central Bank of Egypt was also inked.

Notably, the Vietnamese official held the first-ever high-level meeting with leaders of the Arab League (AL) headquartered in Cairo, marking a significant milestone contributing to more effective and substantial cooperation between Vietnam and the AL and its 22 member countries which have a population of 500 million and a total GDP of over 7 trillion USD, he said, adding that the two countries’ leaders support and share political determination to lift bilateral ties to a greater height.

According to Ngoc, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said both sides are exploring the possibility of starting negotiations on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and Egypt, and the next step could be an investment protection agreement between the two countries.

The two sides have offered mutual support at multilateral forums and stepped up cooperation between ASEAN and the AL. In this regard, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed an agreement with the AL Secretariat to boost collaboration in areas of shared interest, he added./.