Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kanat Tumysh met with the President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam To Lam, El.kz cites MFA.
At the outset, the Kazakh diplomat conveyed warm greetings to the Head of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. The President of Viet Nam noted: “It was touching to receive on July 10 the kind congratulations of President Tokayev on the occasion of my birthday”. Later, the meeting turned to a conversation about the official visit of the Head of Kazakhstan to Viet Nam in August 2023, and the return state visit of the Head of Viet Nam. Current pressing topics, related to the intensification of political, trade, economic, investment, military-technical, cultural and educational cooperation between the two countries were discussed.
At the end of 2023, trade between Kazakhstan and Viet Nam amounted to about 1 billion US dollars. Proceeding from this, and expressing hope that this figure will increase even more this year, the parties agreed on the need to raise cooperation between the two countries to a new level.
The recent entry into force of the relevant intergovernmental agreement establishing a visa-free regime also made an important contribution to the development of relations of friendship and cooperation between two peoples. At the same time, for the proper development of mutual tourism, further bold and persistent steps are required. In this regard, establishing direct flights with the Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang (from Astana and Almaty) by the Kazakh national airline Air Astana would be very relevant.
The President of Viet Nam noted with satisfaction the increased activities of Vietnamese companies in Kazakhstan and the planned joint projects. He stated that it is necessary to intensify cooperation in the fields of economy, industry and trade, finance, investment, transport, tourism, agriculture, culture, education and science. He also paid special attention to military-technical cooperation, emphasizing the need to conclude appropriate agreements in this area in the future.
To strengthen relations between our peoples, the establishment of twinning relations between the regions of the two countries will be very useful as well. Currently, the Mangystau region is considering signing a Memorandum of twinning cooperation with the city of Danang, the city of Almaty – with the Khanh Hoa province, while the East Kazakhstan region – with Bac Ninh province. In addition, relevant work is underway to establish cooperation between other regions.
The Ambassador of Kazakhstan familiarized the President of Viet Nam with the initiatives of the Kazakh chairmanship in the Organization of Turkic States, as well as the potential of the ASEAN – Viet Nam – China – Kazakhstan – Azerbaijan – Turkiye – Europe International Railway Transport Route (“Middle Corridor”). The President of Viet Nam noted that the “Middle Corridor” has a potentially great future. In this regard, he expressed the opinion that in the years to come it is necessary to establish common international terminals and hubs of transportation logistics.
The parties also exchanged views on cooperation at the UN and international organizations. Viet Nam’s President expressed gratitude for the support, provided by the Republic of Kazakhstan to Viet Nam within the framework of the UN and international and regional organizations. He assured that, in general, support will be provided to the initiatives of the Kazakh side both within the framework of bilateral relations, and at multilateral international platforms.