Vietnamese Vice President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân (left) meets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Kazakhstan in October 2022. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

HÀ NỘI — Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s official visit to Việt Nam from August 20-22 is expected to help consolidate and develop the traditional friendship between the two countries.

Việt Nam and Kazakhstan set up their diplomatic ties on June 29, 1992. Since then, the bilateral relations have been developing well in various fields.

In July 2008, the Vietnamese Embassy in Kazakhstan was put into operation, while the Central Asian country opened its embassy in Hà Nội in March 2015.

The two countries have maintained regular high-level delegation exchanges as well as collaboration in both the bilateral framework and at multilateral forums.

Kazakhstan backed Việt Nam's candidacy for the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term, the UNESCO Executive Board and Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage for the 2022-2026 term. Meanwhile, Việt Nam supported Kazakhstan to join the Mission to the Far East of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Việt Nam always pays attention to developing its cooperation with Kazakhstan – its important partner in Central Asia. Two-way trade reached US$584 million in 2022, and $124.1 million in the first four months of this year.

Việt Nam mainly exports phones and components, machinery, equipment, computers, electronic products, agricultural products, seafood, canned vegetables, clothes and footwear to Kazakhstan, while importing raw materials such as lead, zinc, iron and stainless steel, and products from non-ferrous metals from the Central Asian nation.

Regarding tourism cooperation, the two sides currently have seven direct flights per week. Since September 2019, Kazakhstan has applied unilateral visa exemption for Vietnamese citizens for stays up to 30 days. In March 2023, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism sent the Kazakh side a draft tourism cooperation plan between the two ministries for exchange and consideration of signing so as to create a basis to further strengthen the relationship in this field.

In terms of education, the two sides signed a cooperation agreement in the sphere on September 15, 2009. Currently, there are six Vietnamese students learning at universities in Kazakhstan, and two Kazakh students in Việt Nam under this deal.

There are currently around 50 Vietnamese people living in Kazakhstan.

The Kazakh President’s official visit to Việt Nam takes place in the context that the traditional friendship between the two countries enjoys fine development. It is hoped to help lift the bilateral relations to a new height. — VNS