Vietnam, Egypt agree to promote cooperation in the defense industry

Photo caption — Major General Phan Thi Hoai Van, Deputy Head of the General Department of Defense Industry, paid a courtesy call to Egyptian Minister of Defense Production Mohamed Salah El-Din Mostafa. Photo: VNA

The working visit to Egypt by the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense delegation took place in the context of the two countries upgrading their relationship to Comprehensive Partnership during the state visit of President Luong Cuong to Egypt last August.

According to a VNA reporter in Cairo, at the meeting, Major General Phan Thi Hoai Van emphasized the interest of Defense Minister Phan Van Giang in sending a working delegation to Egypt to promote cooperation between the two countries in the field of defense industry, at the invitation of the Egyptian side as well as on the basis of agreement on strengthening cooperation between the two sides. Major General Phan Thi Hoai Van thanked the Egyptian side for the warm welcome and expressed her desire to strengthen cooperation in the defense industry between the two countries through delegation exchanges, especially at the high level. To promote cooperation, the two sides agreed to increase the exchange of defense industry business delegations to learn about the laws, needs and defense industry capacity of each country, thereby identifying feasible cooperation contents. The two sides will also organize bilateral defense industry forums and send defense industry business delegations to display products at exhibitions in each country.

Major General Phan Thi Hoai Van and Minister Mostafa also exchanged views on the orientation of building a self-reliant defense industry and the strengths of the defense industry in each country to build a legal basis for bilateral cooperation. The two sides agreed to consider signing a memorandum of understanding on defense industry cooperation on the basis of defense cooperation between the two countries. The head of the Vietnamese Defense Ministry delegation said that Vietnam will organize the 3rd International Defense Exhibition in 2026, and at the same time sent an invitation and request to the Egyptian side to bring defense industry products to display at the upcoming exhibition.

For his part, the Egyptian Minister of Defense Production highly appreciated the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense sending a high-ranking delegation to visit Egypt for the first time and attend the 4th EDEX, and affirmed that he would consider the possibility of visiting Vietnam in the near future. Minister Mostafa emphasized that the visits of both sides will be a very important basis and premise to promote defense cooperation and defense industry between Egypt and Vietnam.

Appreciating the Vietnamese side's sharing, Minister Mostafa agreed on the policy of promoting the signing of a memorandum of understanding on defense industry cooperation between the two countries. Minister Mostafa said that the Egyptian side will send the draft cooperation agreement to the Vietnamese side as soon as possible.

During their stay in Egypt, the Ministry of Defense delegation attended the 4th EDEX at the Egyptian Defense Exhibition Center in Cairo. The event attracted the participation of 150 official delegations and more than 40,000 visitors from many countries around the world . More than 450 defense companies and corporations from many countries participated in exhibiting and introducing products at EDEX 2025.

EDEX was first held in 2018 with the participation of 373 major defense companies from 41 countries around the world.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/viet-nam-ai-cap-nhat-tri-day-manh-hop-tac-trong-linh-vuc-cong-nghiep-quoc-phong-20251204165102783.htm