Gaballa, a prestigious Egyptian journalist who is interested in Vietnam, said that despite negative impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam’s GDP growth in the first half of this year reached 1.81 percent.
Gaballa noted that in 2019, the Global Competitiveness Index of Vietnam jumped 10 places over the previous year to the 67th in a list of 141 economies, while the country’s business environment index also leaped eight places compared to 2015, ranking 70th out of 190 countries and territories.
Besides, Vietnam is playing an increasing role on the global political and diplomatic map through its position as the ASEAN Chair and non-permanent member of the UN Security Council as well as the contributions of the country’s peacekeeping force.
Vietnam and Egypt celebrate the 57th anniversary of diplomatic relations on September 1, 2020, he said, adding that this is a chance for the two sides to review their ties, which were laid a solid foundation by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and President Ho Chi Minh.
He said that in 2020, despite the adverse impacts of COVID-19, two-way trade between Egypt and Vietnam is expected to maintain good results. In the first seven months of this year, Vietnam exported 256 million USD worth of goods to Egypt.
Last year, two-way trade fetched 500 million USD, making Egypt the second largest trading partner of Vietnam in Africa.
Vietnam mostly exported to Egypt fisheries products, garment and textiles, footwear, spare parts and transportation vehicles, machineries, equipment and farm produce, while importing from Egypt materials for the garment and textile industry, plastic material, pharmaceuticals, fresh fruits, milk and dairy products, and fertilisers.
Gaballa held that the two countries boast high potential to promote their cooperation in trade, investment, tourism and maritime economy./.
VNA
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