Vietnam - Egypt upgrade relations to Comprehensive Partnership

Politburo member and President Luong Cuong and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at a press conference. Photo: VNA

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that on the morning of August 5 (local time), within the framework of the State visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt, immediately after the welcoming ceremony solemnly held at the Presidential Palace, Politburo member and President Luong Cuong and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi held informal and official talks.

During the talks, the two leaders affirmed their determination to create breakthroughs in bilateral cooperation in all areas. On that basis, the two sides agreed to upgrade bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Partnership.

The two leaders also discussed opportunities to expand cooperation into new areas such as innovation, science and technology, green transformation, digital transformation, etc., and agreed to continue perfecting bilateral legal frameworks to create a foundation for comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

In order to promote balanced and mutually beneficial trade between the two sides, President Luong Cuong said that Vietnam agreed with the policy of opening the market for a number of products of interest to Egypt and asked Egypt to facilitate Vietnamese goods to access the Egyptian market.

President Luong Cuong informed about the results of the talks. Photo: VNA

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi affirmed that with its position connecting three continents and through its extensive network of free trade agreements, Egypt is ready to act as a bridge for Vietnamese businesses and goods to access the Middle East and African markets, and agreed to discuss the possibility of establishing new bilateral trade cooperation frameworks, thereby contributing to increasing trade turnover in the coming time.

The two sides agreed to establish a Working Group to study the possibility of negotiating a Vietnam - Egypt Free Trade Agreement.

The two leaders agreed to promote educational cooperation, people-to-people exchange, strengthen tourism promotion connections, and promote destinations, culture, and people of both sides.

Discussing regional and international issues of mutual concern, President Luong Cuong highly appreciated Egypt's role as an intermediary and conciliator in seeking solutions to conflicts in the region.

The Egyptian President welcomed Vietnam's stance on the just struggle of the Palestinian people and agreed that promoting the two-state solution is an important goal to achieve sustainable and long-term peace in the Middle East.

Regarding the East Sea issue, the two leaders affirmed their support for resolving disputes by peaceful means on the basis of respect for international law, the United Nations Charter and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to ensure peace, security, safety, freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea.

After the talks, President Luong Cuong and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi witnessed the signing of many important cooperation documents, including the Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Egyptian Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation on economic cooperation, and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnamese Ministry of Interior and the Egyptian Ministry of Local Development on cooperation in the field of local development.

The two countries' Defense Ministries also signed a Letter of Intent on defense cooperation and a Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department and the Egyptian Liaison Office with International Organizations.

Leaders of ministries, sectors and businesses from both sides also had meetings and reached many other agreements in the fields of finance, agricultural trade and oil and gas exploration and exploitation.

Laodong.vn

Source: https://laodong.vn/thoi-su/viet-nam-ai-cap-nang-cap-quan-he-len-doi-tac-toan-dien-1552773.ldo