Vietnam - Egypt promote economic cooperation, towards bilateral FTA

On the occasion of accompanying President Luong Cuong on a State visit to Egypt from August 3-6, on August 4, the Ministry of Industry and Trade delegation led by Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang met and worked with the Minister and two Deputy Ministers of the Egyptian Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade.

Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang works with the Egyptian Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade. Photo: Ministry of Industry and Trade

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang, on behalf of the Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, expressed her gratitude to the Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Egypt for the close coordination with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam in the past time. At the same time, Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang expressed her joy at the achievements in bilateral relations, and affirmed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam always attaches importance to and highly appreciates the leading role and position of Egypt in the North African region in particular and Africa in general. Egypt is currently Vietnam's largest trading partner in the North African region with a trade volume of more than 472 million USD in 2024.

Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang said that the structure of import and export goods between the two countries is not competitive but complementary, so the two countries still have a lot of potential and room to further promote the scale of bilateral economic and trade cooperation; including cooperation in the fields of industry, agriculture, investment and logistics. Therefore, as two agencies in charge of economic and trade cooperation, the two ministries have a lot of work to do to bring bilateral economic and trade cooperation to match the bilateral relationship in the coming time.

Based on the proposal of the Vietnamese side, the two sides agreed to strengthen coordination in organizing trade and investment promotion activities, thereby contributing to expanding the scale and aiming to balance the bilateral trade balance. On this occasion, the Egyptian side announced its plan to organize a business delegation to Vietnam in 2025 and requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to coordinate in organizing bilateral trade and investment promotion activities.

Minister Hassan El Khatib highly appreciated the friendly cooperation between the two countries since the establishment of diplomatic relations (1963) and highly appreciated Vietnam's economic development in recent years. At the same time, he introduced Egypt's advantages and cooperation potential such as its important geographical location, many economic agreements signed with the European Union and large African countries, with potential for developing logistics, renewable energy, oil and gas, industries (textiles, fertilizers, chemicals, etc.).

At the meeting, the two sides agreed to establish a Joint Working Group on the feasibility study of the Vietnam-Egypt FTA with the task of studying and evaluating the benefits that the FTA can bring to both sides, contributing to promoting trade and investment between the two countries in a balanced manner. In addition, the two sides also agreed to coordinate to organize the 3rd Meeting of the Subcommittee on Bilateral Trade and Industry Cooperation this year (expected in the fourth quarter of 2025) in Vietnam to discuss specific cooperation contents in the field of trade and investment in the industrial sector.

Statistics show that in 2024, the total import-export turnover between Vietnam and Egypt will reach 472.6 million USD, an increase of 9.4% compared to 2023. In the first 6 months of 2025 alone, the import-export turnover between Vietnam and Egypt will reach 266.9 million USD, an increase of 8.0% over the same period last year; of which, Vietnam's exports to Egypt will reach 266.9 million USD, an increase of 8.0%.

Vietnam's export groups to Egypt include coffee; phones of all kinds and components; means of transport and spare parts; computers, electronic products and components; seafood; pepper; other machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts; vegetables and fruits; cashew nuts; textile fibers and yarns of all kinds; textiles and garments; other base metals and products.

Uyen Huong (Vietnam News Agency)

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/viet-namai-cap-thuc-day-hop-tac-kinh-te-huong-toi-fta-song-phuong-20250805215413698.htm