President Tran Dai Quang will pay State-level visits to Ethiopia and Egypt from August 23 to 29. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The upcomingState-level visits to Ethiopia and Egypt from August 23 to 29 by President TranDai Quang and his spouse are expected to enhance the traditional friendshipbetween Vietnam and the two African countries.
The trips are made at the invitation ofEthiopian President Mulatu Teshome and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Vietnam and Ethiopia established diplomatic tieson March 23, 1976. The bilateral long-standing relations have been growing at asteady rate.
Ethiopia supported Vietnam’s candidacy for theUNESCO Executive Council (2015-2019) and United Nations’ Economic and SocialCouncil (2016-2018).
In April 2014, Ethiopia recognised Vietnam’smarket economy status.
Recently, Ethiopia affirmed its support forVietnam’s bid to run for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council forthe 2020-2021 tenure.
The two sides have inked a framework agreementon cooperation in culture and another on collaboration in economy andscience-technology, as well as a cooperation deal between the Vietnamese andEthiopian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Bilateral trade hit 11.3 million USD in 2017, ofwhich Vietnam exported 2.2 million USD worth of goods, mainly garment-textiles,footwear, and chemical products.
Telecom group Viettel plans to expand the investmentand trade of telecom equipment to Ethiopia. It set up a representative officein Addis Ababa in August 2016.
The visit to Ethiopia by President Quang isexpected to create a historical milestone in bilateral relations as well asopen up investment and trade cooperation prospects in the years to come.
Vietnam and Egypt have a traditional friendshipand cooperation relationship. Egypt is one of the first Arab countries to haverelations with Vietnam. From 1958, Vietnam established a trade representativeoffice in Egypt. Then, on September 1, 1963, Vietnam and Egypt officially setup diplomatic ties. The same year, Vietnam opened its embassy in Cairo. Oneyear later in 1964, Egypt opened its embassy in Hanoi.
The two countries have regularly coordinated andsupported each other at international forums as well as shared viewpoints onnumerous issues of mutual concern at the United Nations.
In May 2015, Vietnam and Egypt held the eighthpolitical consultation at the deputy foreign ministerial level in Cairo. InSeptember 2016, Egypt joined the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia(TAC).
The two nations have also regularly exchangedinformation and cooperation through the Party and local channels in the fieldsof inspection and culture, while also setting up the Vietnam-Egypt FriendshipParliamentary Group.
Economically, Egypt is the fifth largest tradepartner of Vietnam in Africa. Two-way trade reached about 350 million USD in2017. Vietnam mainly exported aquatic products, automobile spare parts, fabric,black pepper, coffee, rubber, and consumer goods.
Egypt was the first north African country torecognise Vietnam’s market economy in November 2013. It has three registeredinvestment projects in Vietnam worth 2.05 million USD.
Each year, Egypt provides 12 Arab languagetraining scholarships for Vietnamese students. On the occasion of PresidentAbdel Fattah al-Sisi’s visit to Vietnam in September 2017, Egypt pledged to providetechnical assistance and training for 10-20 officials on Halal standards forgoods exported to the Muslim market.
In recent years, Vietnam and Egypt have signedsome agreements on trade, economic and technological cooperation, investment protection,aviation, inspection collaboration, visa exemption for diplomatic special andofficial passport holders, and cooperation protocol between the two foreignministries.
They also signed cooperation deals in tourism,exploration and exploitation of oil and gas, organising trade fairs andexhibitions, and developing micro and small enterprises.
The two sides established a joint businesscouncil and prompted investment cooperation between Vietnam’s Ministry ofPlanning and Investment and Egypt’s Ministry of Investment and InternationalCooperation.
The upcoming visits to Ethiopia and Egypt alsoaffirm that Vietnam persistently pursues its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance,multilateralisation, and diversification of international relations.
Vietnam always attaches great importance toenhancing traditional friendship with African countries in general, andEthiopia and Egypt in particular.
The visits also creates a chance for countriesto exchange measures to further develop their cooperation in economy, trade,investment, as well as seek cooperation opportunities in their fields of theirstrength such as agriculture, culture, and tourism. –VNA
VNA