Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son receives Egyptian Ambassador to Vietnam Amal Abdel Kader Elmorsi Salama. (Photo: VNA)

At the meeting, Foreign Minister Son stated that Vietnam attaches importance to traditional friendship and cooperation with Egypt, one of the first states in the Middle East and Africa to establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam..

He expressed his delight at the positive developments in relations between the two countries in recent times. Egypt is currently Vietnam's leading tradomg partner in North Africa, with trade turnover increasing year by year and hitting almost 600 million USD last year.

The Foreign Minister suggested that the Ambassador promote her experience and make contributions to further strengthening their bilateral ties, especially in such fields as policy-diplomacy, trade-investment, Halal, and response to climate change.

For her part, the Egyptian Ambassador affirmed that ample room remains for both nations to promote cooperation, and promised that she will do her utmost to create a breakthrough for bilateral relations in the coming time, in order to raise bilateral trade to 1 billion USD as set by the two countries' leaders.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (1963 - 2023), both host and guest agreed to closely coordinate to promote the exchange of delegations and effectively implement bilateral cooperation mechanisms, such as the organisation of the sixth session of the Vietnamese – Egyptian Joint Committee.

They also pledged to enhance cooperation between the localities of the two countries, coordinate to hold cultural and artistic exchange activities to increase mutual understanding between the two countries' people and promote the negotiation and signing of cooperation agreements in aviation and double taxation avoidance.