Strong momentum to strengthen comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam, Israel and Egypt

At the invitation of the Governments of Israel and Egypt, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and a Vietnamese delegation paid official visits to Israel and Egypt from July 23-27.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ha Kim Ngoc gives an interview to VNA about the results of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang's visit to Egypt. Photo: Nguyen Truong/VNA

In an interview with the press about the results of the visit as well as the prospects for multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and these two countries, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ha Kim Ngoc assessed that this was a trip of great significance, which was successful, achieving substantial and comprehensive results. Politically , the visit was a practical activity to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Vietnam establishing diplomatic relations with Israel and the 60th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations with Egypt; contributing to consolidating and enhancing the friendship and cooperation with Israel; traditional and trustworthy relations with Egypt, Vietnam's leading important partners in the region. Both Israel and Egypt highly respect Vietnam, considering Vietnam as "a heroic nation" with "an admirable history". The countries gave Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and the Vietnamese delegation a warm and respectful welcome. High-ranking leaders of Israel and Egypt present in the country received and held talks with Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang. The visit is an important milestone, creating a strong driving force to strengthen the comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Israel and Egypt. In terms of economy and trade, the visit is a concrete implementation of the Prime Minister's direction on expanding the market for goods with Vietnam's important trade partners in the Middle East - Africa. The signing of the Free Trade Agreement with Israel (VIFTA) is an important milestone, contributing to improving the effectiveness of trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and Israel and other countries in the Middle East - North Africa region. In addition, both Israel and Egypt have also agreed on a series of measures to increase import and export, striving to soon increase trade turnover to 3 billion USD with Israel and over 1 billion USD with Egypt; creating favorable conditions for each other's key export items, strengthening cooperation in the field of Halal; Early establishment of a business council, effective organization of the 3rd Intergovernmental Committee meeting with Israel and the 6th with Egypt and creating a breakthrough for cooperation between the two countries; strengthening cooperation in labor, tourism, finance, currency, cooperation between localities, creating favorable conditions for the entry of citizens of each country... Besides signing VIFTA with Israel, within the framework of this visit, Vietnam signed two agreements with Egypt: Cooperation between Hanoi and Cairo; between the State Bank of Vietnam and the Central Bank of Egypt. Deputy Minister Ha Kim Ngoc emphasized that on the multilateral level, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang's first high-level contact with the leaders of the Arab League (AL - headquartered in Cairo) is of great significance, contributing to strengthening substantive and effective cooperation with the AL, as well as with the 22 member countries of the league, with a population of 500 million and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over 7,000 billion USD, including many traditional friends and important partners of Vietnam. On this occasion, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the AL Secretariat signed an agreement to promote areas of cooperation of mutual interest.

Assessing the prospects and opportunities for cooperation in the coming time, Deputy Minister Ha Kim Ngoc said that Vietnam is facing a great opportunity to improve the effectiveness of cooperation with Israel and Egypt.

With Israel, the relationship between the two countries has developed remarkably in all fields, the economies of the two sides are complementary, Israel's strengths in science - technology and innovation are very suitable for Vietnam's development needs. Cooperation between the two countries also has effective support from the recently signed VIFTA. With Egypt, Vietnam has a valuable asset which is the solid foundation of 60 years of good traditional friendship, similarities in the history of the struggle for national liberation, trust, support and political determination of the two countries' senior leaders.

Deputy Minister Ha Kim Ngoc affirmed that the visit has opened a new phase, bringing economic, trade, investment, science - technology, labor, tourism cooperation with Israel and Egypt into depth, substance, efficiency, on par with the good political relations and potential of each country. Vietnam and Egypt also agreed to study the possibility of negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). If implemented, this important agreement is expected to bring a breakthrough to trade cooperation between the two countries in the coming time.

On the multilateral level, the visit opens up the possibility for Vietnam and its partners to strengthen coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the AL, thereby exploiting the potential for cooperation between the above organizations as well as with member countries, contributing to building a world of peace, cooperation and development.

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