President Tran Dai Quang

This is the first trip to Ethiopia by a head of State of Vietnam since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1976. It is expected to create a historical milestone in the bilateral relations and open up investment and trade cooperation prospects in the years to come.

Enhancing the Vietnam-Ethiopia relationship

According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Ethiopia Nguyen Kim Doanh, President Quang’s visit is of great importance to the two countries’ politics, diplomacy, and economics. In addition to creating a joint mechanism for bilateral cooperation, enhancing political trust and cooperation at international forums, the visit is expected to create economic cooperation prospects for the two countries: “Vietnam hopes to expand its export market. Ethiopia hopes to have more partners, attract more investment, and create more jobs. I believe that after President Tran Dai Quang’s visit, the two sides will promote negotiations and sign more cooperative agreements including the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement and the Investment Protection and Encouragement Agreement.”

Sharing similarities in population, agriculture, industry, and tourism, the two countries can capitalize on advantages for co-development. Ambassador Doanh said: “Ethiopia is 3 times larger than Vietnam with a population of 100 million people, fertile soil, rich natural resources, favorable natural conditions, and great potential for development but it lacks capital and management experience. Vietnam can help Ethiopia to more effectively tap its potential and resources to become a middle-income country by 2025.”

Strengthening Vietnam-Egypt cooperation

President Quang will visit Egypt from Sunday to Wednesday. Egypt ranks second in North Africa in terms of the size of its economy and population. It is one of the leading FDI destinations in the region with major economic sectors being tourism, oil, garments and textiles, farm produce processing, chemicals and construction.  

Egypt was one of the first Arab countries to establish ties with Vietnam. The two countries have signed several cooperative agreements in economics, trade, investment, culture and tourism. Egypt is Vietnam’s 5^th largest trade partner in Africa with two-way trade reaching 350 million USD last year. Egypt was the first North African country to recognize Vietnam’s market economy status. Annually, the Egyptian government grants 12 scholarships to Vietnamese students. The two have strengthened information sharing and cooperation in other areas like inspection and culture. Egypt supports Vietnam’s stance on Arab issues. They have worked closely at international forums.

During President Quang’s visit, the two sides will discuss ways to further bilateral cooperation in economics, trade, and investment.

VOV