Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and Egyptian Ambassador Amal Salama.

This year, the Egyptian national day marks the 71th anniversary of the Egyptian revolution of July 23rd, 1952, the event that shaped the modern political history in Egypt, and significantly inspired other countries in different parts of the world, especially those who were struggling to achieve their independence. The first Egyptian Republic was then established to lead the path of modernization, development and social justice in Egypt.

Not many years later, and in the spirit of solidarity among nations aspiring for independence and development, Egypt and Vietnam established diplomatic relations in 1963, and both countries are celebrating this year the 60th anniversary of Egyptian-Vietnamese diplomatic relations, and the longstanding friendship between our two nations.

In recent years, the friendship between Egypt and Vietnam had its highest political manifestation in the historical exchanged state visits of H. E. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to Vietnam in September 2017, and the late president of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam H.E. Tran Dai Quang to Egypt in August 2018. These visits contributed further momentum to bilateral relations between our two countries and peoples in all fields, including political, economic, military, parliamentary, and cultural aspects.

Furthermore, and despite the impact of the pandemic, economic ties between Egypt and Vietnam continued to grow. The bilateral trade volume between the two countries reached almost 600 million USD in the last year. In addition, Egypt and Vietnam actively resumed the exchange of bilateral visits throughout the year, and the 9th session of the political consultations between both countries was held in Hanoi, in September 2022. Currently, both countries are working closely to prepare for the 6th session of the Egyptian Vietnamese Joint committee in the coming months.

We are also coordinating closely this year to arrange more high level visits to be exchanged between both countries, and organize different cultural activities in the framework of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Among the different fields of cooperation between Egypt and Vietnam, cultural relations continue to be a very important pillar of our bilateral relations. Several joint activities took place in recent years, including the active participation in cultural festivals and events organized by the two countries; in addition to the increasing numbers of Vietnamese students choosing to study Arabic language in Egypt. These relations further contribute to raising the awareness of the young generations regarding the friendship between our two nations, and consolidate the cultural links between our countries.

Egypt hosted the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 27) in November 2022, to address the important challenges that the world faces as a result of climate change, and discuss the different commitments pledged in this regards. A Vietnamese delegation led by H.E Mr. Tran Hong Ha, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment at that time (currently the deputy prime minister of Vietnam) participated in this very important conference.

On the national level, the Egyptian government has launched a successful economic reform program since 2016, together with the Egypt Vision 2030 that reflects the country's long-term strategic plan to achieve the principles and goals of sustainable development in all fields.

Egypt is also witnessing a real development progress in many fields, where many cities are currently being completed, in addition to the new administrative capital, and an extensive network of roads and tunnels have been constructed. Also many national initiatives have been launched such as "a decent life", which contributes to enhancing the quality of daily public services provided to Egyptian citizens, and the "Egypt future" project which aims to reclaim and develop 1.5 million acres in Egypt, as well as Egypt's adoption of two national strategies in the field of hydrogen and the electric car industry, and its successful program regarding the renewable energy projects, and the electrical interconnection projects with neighboring countries, in addition to developing international and domestic airports and ports. Also the Suez Canal Economic Zone SCZONE adopts an investor-friendly business environment that will be a cornerstone for national development plans.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere congratulations to Vietnam for its impressive socio-economic achievements in the recent years, and to emphasize that under the current leadership of our both nations, Egypt and Vietnam will continue to explore together the bright future of their friendship and cooperation, and further enhance the traditional ties between both countries, and the brotherly relations between our two peoples.