The Egyptian leader is accompanied by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Chief of the President’s Office Moustafa Sherif, Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker, Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil, Minister of Transport Hesham Arafat, and Director of the General Intelligence Directorate Khaled Fawzy, among others.
The first-ever State visit to Vietnam by an Egyptian president since the countries set up diplomatic ties in 1963 holds historic significance for bilateral relations, showing Egypt’s wish to enhance cooperation with the Southeast Asian nation.
The trip is an occasion for both sides to discuss measures to intensify bilateral cooperation in different fields, including economy, trade, investment and other spheres they are strong at such as agriculture, culture and tourism, while exchanging views on regional and international issues of shared concern.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s visit to Vietnam is considered an important milestone in Vietnam-Egypt cooperation, which is expected to boost the traditional partnership between the two countries in all fields.
President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
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Over the past years, Egypt has highly valued Vietnam’s stance to issues related to the Arabian world, especially the Middle East peace process. The Egyptian government has supported Vietnam in the evacuations of workers in Libya in 2011 and 2014. The two sides have coordinated closely and supported each other at international forums, while sharing viewpoints on various issues at the United Nations.
At the eighth political consultations at Deputy Foreign Ministerial level in Cairo in May 2015, Egypt committed to giving technical assistance to Vietnam so the country could be able to issue Halal certificates of food for Islamic markets.
Egypt has been the second largest trade partner of Vietnam in Africa, with two-way trade hitting 316 million USD in 2016. Vietnam exported seafood, automobile spare parts, fabric, black peppercorn, coffee, rubber and other consumer goods to Egypt and imported mainly chemicals, oil products, milk and dairy products, and fibres.
The Egyptian Government annually offered 12 scholarships in Arabian language to Vietnam. The two sides have regularly exchanged information in inspection and culture. The Vietnam-Egypt Friendship Parliamentarian Group was set up.
The visit of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is hoped to make bilateral cooperation grow more effectively and extensively, while creating cooperation opportunities in trade, agriculture, culture and tourism. The two sides will also discuss regional and international issues of shared concern.
