Article written by Her Excellency Ms. Amal Abdel Kader Elmorsi Salama, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Arab Republic Egypt to the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam on the occasion of the 72nd Anniversary of the National Day of Egypt

This year, the Egyptian National Day marks the 72nd anniversary of the Egyptian revolution of July 23, 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 modernisation, 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 Việt Nam established diplomatic relations in 1963 and both countries celebrated last year the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Egyptian-Vietnamese diplomatic relations and the longstanding friendship between our two nations.

In recent years, the friendship between Egypt and Việt Nam had its highest political manifestation in the historic exchanged state visits of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Việt Nam in September 2017 and the late president of Việt Nam Trần Đại 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, parliamentary and cultural aspects.

An aerial view of Cairo City. — Photo courtesy of the embassy

Furthermore, and despite the impact of the pandemic, the economic ties between Egypt and Việt Nam continue to grow. Bilateral trade volume between the two countries reached almost US$600 million in the last year. In addition, Egypt and Việt Nam actively resumed the exchange of bilateral visits and the ninth session of the political consultations between both countries was held in Hà Nội in September 2022. Currently, both countries are working closely to prepare for the sixth session of the Egyptian Vietnamese Joint Committee in the coming months.

In addition, last year witnessed an increasing momentum of our bilateral relations and an increasing number of bilateral visits took place, the most prominent of which were the visit of H.E Trần Lưu Quang Deputy Prime Minister of Việt Nam in July and the visit of H.E. Tô Lâm, President of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam to Cairo in December, in his capacity as the Minister of Public Security. We are also coordinating closely this year to arrange more high level visits to be exchanged between both countries, in addition to giving impetus to all bilateral cooperation mechanisms, with a view to boosting economic, political, and cultural ties between our two brotherly countries.

Among the different fields of cooperation between Egypt and Việt Nam, 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 organised 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.

On the national level, the Egyptian Government has also launched a successful economic reform programme 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.

Karnak Temple is Egypt's largest single gathering of temple ruins. — Photo courtesy of the Embassy

Egypt is also witnessing 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 'Future of Egypt' 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 programme regarding renewable energy projects and electrical interconnection projects with neighbouring countries, in addition to developing international and domestic airports and ports. Also, the Suez Canal Economic Zone SCZONE is adopting 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 Việt Nam for its impressive socio-economic achievements in recent years and the increasing proactive role Việt Nam is playing on the regional and international scene to help maintain peace and stability. I am confident that under the current leadership of both our nations, Egypt and Việt Nam will continue to explore together the bright future of their friendship and cooperation, and further enhance traditional ties between both countries, and brotherly relations between our two peoples. — VNS