President’s visits to Ethiopia, Egypt record upbeat outcomes

The two trips, made at the invitation of Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, have recorded positive outcomes regarding the exchange of content between all sides, successful documents signed, as well as President Quang’s sideline activities.

In Ethiopia from August 23-25, President Quang held talks with Ethiopian President Teshome and also had separate meetings with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Speaker of the House of Federation Keria Ibrahim. 

His later visit to Egypt from August 25-29 took place at a time when the two countries are celebrating 55 years of diplomatic relations. President Quang held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Ali Abdel Aal and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

At the end of each visit, a joint statement was issued, setting out major orientations and laying the basis for bilateral cooperation in the near future.

Boosting economic, trade, and investment collaboration was a key aspect of the Vietnamese President’s visits to Ethiopia and Egypt, which are substantial markets of around 100 million people each. Egypt is now one of the three leading economies in Africa, while the Ethiopian economy has grown at an annual average rate of 10 percent in the last decade.

At their meetings, President Quang and leaders of the two countries extensively discussed specific solutions to encourage and create favorable conditions for their business communities to engage in networking and market expansion. Vietnam can assist Ethiopia and Egypt in accessing the ASEAN market, while the latters can help Vietnam enter the considerable markets of the Middle East and Africa.    

As part of its foreign policy, Vietnam has always attached importance to traditional ties with Africa, having established diplomatic relations with 53 out of the 55 countries to date. In 2017, Vietnam-Africa trade reached approximately 6.7 billion USD.

Within the framework of his visit to Ethiopia, the Vietnamese President visited the headquarters of the African Union (AU) and met with Acting President of the AU Commission Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil.

At the meeting, President Quang stated that developing countries, like Vietnam and several African nations, should work together and support each other to increase their voices and roles at multilateral cooperation mechanisms, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, and the South-South cooperation framework.

He suggested that Vietnam and the AU set up an annual dialogue to implement synchronous and large scale collaborative projects with the region and other countries, thus enhancing their coordination at international forums to defend the interests of developing nations.

The two leaders agreed to study a cooperation model, as well as boost exchanges of information and experience in the fields of common interest, such as the UN peacekeeping mission, agriculture, education, infrastructure, IT, and telecommunication.