Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang's visit to the two countries in the Middle East-Africa region is meaningful as this year Vietnam celebrates the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations with Israel (July 12, 1993 - July 12, 2023) and the 60th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations with Egypt (September 1, 1963 - September 1, 2023).
The visit is a step to implement the Project "Developing relations between Vietnam and countries in the Middle East and Africa for the period 2016-2025" and the Project "Strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam's Halal industry by 2030".
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| Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang meets with President of the State of Israel Isaac Herzog. (Source: VGP) |
Marking a major milestone through FTA with Israel
In Israel - a country with a high level of development in science and technology, startups and innovation in the region, this is the first time in eight years that a Vietnamese delegation led by a Deputy Prime Minister has officially visited Israel, and is also a highlight in a series of activities celebrating three decades of bilateral relations throughout 2023.
During the visit, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang met with President Isaac Herzog; held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; attended the ceremony to celebrate the 78th anniversary of the National Day of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Israel diplomatic relations; visited the headquarters of the Vietnamese Embassy, met with representatives of the Vietnamese community in Israel; and visited iconic Israeli establishments for startups and innovation.
At the meetings, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to further strengthen and develop the friendly relationship and multifaceted cooperation with Israel.
Meanwhile, the Israeli side highly appreciated the role, position and remarkable socio-economic developments of Vietnam in recent times and expected that Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang's visit would open up good opportunities to strongly promote multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries.
The two sides agreed to further promote relations through measures such as increasing the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially high-level ones; coordinating and supporting each other at international forums and organizations; promoting the exchange of business delegations, organizing trade and investment promotion activities; and studying the early opening of direct flights between the two countries to boost economic cooperation, tourism and people-to-people exchange.
Emphasizing the priority areas of cooperation between the two countries are science - technology and high-tech agriculture, the two sides agreed to encourage and create favorable conditions for businesses of the two countries to increase investment and share experiences in Israel's strong fields such as startups, innovation, high-tech agriculture, information technology, etc.
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| Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and Prime Minister B. Netanyahu witnessed the signing ceremony of the Vietnam-Israel Free Trade Agreement. (Source: VGP) |
The highlight of the visit was the signing of the Vietnam-Israel Free Trade Agreement (VIFTA), marking the result of tireless efforts by both countries after seven years and 12 rounds of negotiations. The VIFTA signing ceremony took place under the witness of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel is the first country in the Middle East with which Vietnam signed an FTA, while Vietnam is the first country in Southeast Asia with which Israel signed an FTA.
The signing of VIFTA is an important milestone, contributing to the completion of the legal basis, "connecting" the strengths of the two countries' economies, creating favorable conditions for Vietnam to promote the export of its strong products to Israel.
“In the context that the exchange of delegations between the two sides has not really recovered compared to the period before the Covid-19 pandemic, the high-level visit to Israel led by Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang opens up opportunities and creates new motivations for people, businesses and localities of the two countries to continue to connect, trade, exchange and share, thereby helping the bilateral relationship become more and more connected.” Vietnamese Ambassador to Israel Ly Duc Trung |
This agreement also opens up opportunities to access high-tech goods from Israel, contributing to reducing production and business costs, and enhancing the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods in the potential Middle East region.
With this major milestone, the two sides hope that economic cooperation, especially trade and investment, will reach new heights, with two-way trade turnover soon reaching 3 billion USD and even higher in the future.
The substantive results of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang's visit have contributed to further tightening Vietnam-Israel cooperation in many areas from agriculture, healthcare, to education, innovation and startups, while creating expectations for a breakthrough in economic, trade and investment cooperation in the coming time, commensurate with the potential and desires of the leaders and people of the two countries.
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| Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and the Vietnamese Government delegation with President of the Egyptian Senate Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Razek, July 26. (Source: VGP) |
Strengthening traditional cooperation with Egypt
At the second stop in Egypt - the most populous country in North Africa, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang held talks with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, met with Senate President Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Razek, met with First Deputy President of the House of Representatives Ahmed Saad El-Din Mohamed Abd El-Rehim, worked with Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, met with leaders of Egyptian ministries and sectors...
In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister also witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation agreements, attended the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, met with the Vietnamese community in Egypt and visited a number of cultural and economic establishments...
In his talks with Egyptian leaders, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to and hopes to strengthen the multifaceted relationship between the two countries in a comprehensive, effective and practical manner. Meanwhile, Egypt expressed its respect for and desire to promote the traditional friendship with Vietnam.
Affirming that the two countries still have much room for cooperation with a domestic market of more than 100 million people each, the two sides discussed and agreed on a number of measures to further deepen the traditional friendship through measures such as increasing delegation exchanges at all levels and sectors, people-to-people exchanges, and consolidating effective cooperation.
In terms of economy, the two sides agreed to further open the market for each other's strong products, encourage businesses of both sides to increase exchanges and connections, promote cooperation in the Halal field, create favorable conditions for investors of each country, and soon organize the sixth meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for agencies, ministries and sectors of both sides to discuss and remove difficulties and obstacles in current cooperation...
Egypt is currently Vietnam's leading trade partner in the North African region. Bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and Egypt in 2022 reached nearly 600 million USD and is striving towards the 1 billion USD mark. To create a breakthrough in trade cooperation, the two sides discussed studying and negotiating agreements on economic and trade cooperation in the coming time.
Taking place on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the visit became an important milestone, contributing to creating new momentum and promoting cooperation between Vietnam and Egypt in potential fields such as economy, trade, logistics, culture, education, etc.
In summary, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang's visit to Israel and Egypt has in common a variety of activities with leaders and top officials of each country, representatives of some typical large enterprises and corporations, and visits to the Vietnamese community in the host country. Thereby, the visit aims at specific goals, demonstrating the proactiveness, activeness in expanding and exploiting the depth of relations with two leading important partners in the Middle East-Africa region, while demonstrating the Party and State's attention to the Vietnamese community abroad.
“Vietnam and Egypt still have a lot of potential to develop bilateral cooperation in the coming years. Each country has a domestic market of more than 100 million people that has not been fully exploited. If our domestic industries can successfully convert and exploit Halal products with the active support of the State, not only Egypt but also other Muslim countries will open up for us a market of approximately 1.8 billion people around the world.” Vietnamese Ambassador to Egypt Nguyen Huy Dung |
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