On the sidelines of the 55th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland on February 26th, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam Bui Thanh Son had a bilateral meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Abugaliuly Nurtleu.
During the meeting, Minister Bui Thanh Son welcomed the results of the visit of President Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Vietnam in August 2023 and expressed the desire of both sides to continue working closely together to implement the agreements reached during the visit. He also affirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Kazakhstan, an important partner of Vietnam in Central Asia.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Abugaliuly Nurtleu. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
During the bilateral meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Abugaliuly Nurtleu emphasized that Kazakhstan attaches special importance to its relationship with Vietnam and agreed that both sides need to promote comprehensive and effective measures to enhance cooperation in various fields as well as support each other in international forums.
In particular, the leaders of both sides agreed to strengthen the exchange of high-level delegations and further promote cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, and investment, which still have a lot of potential for development. They also agreed to create even more favorable conditions for transportation, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
Since the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) came into effect in October 2016, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Kazakhstan has grown significantly, averaging about 28% per year during the period of 2017-2021.
As of November 2023, bilateral trade between the two countries reached $939.6 million, an increase of 95.7% compared to the same period last year.
Ambassador Kanat Tumysh – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Vietnam said that the EAEU Agreement is an additional driving force for the development of bilateral trade. Currently, Kazakhstan ranks second in terms of trade volume with Vietnam among the member countries of the EAEU.
Currently, the export potential of Kazakhstan to Vietnam is $500 million in various fields such as Food, Construction, Chemicals, Metallurgy, and Oil. In 2024, the two countries can increase trade volume from $1.5 to $2 billion.
However, Ambassador Kanat Tumysh believes that the economic, trade, and investment relations between the two sides are still very modest compared to their potential. In the future, to promote economic, trade, and investment cooperation between the two countries, Ambassador Kanat Tumysh said that Kazakhstan hopes to promote railway cooperation with Vietnam through the East-West Corridor line across the Caspian Sea. Specifically, Vietnam can act as a gateway for Kazakhstan to cooperate with countries in Southeast Asia, and Kazakhstan will serve as a bridge for Vietnam to cooperate with Central Asian countries, contributing to promoting trade exchange and facilitating the import and export of goods between the two countries.
With the synchronization of trade promotion solutions, and export promotion, in 2024, the two countries can increase trade volume from $1.5 to $2 billion. Illustrative photo
It is worth noting that to promote economic, trade, and investment cooperation between Vietnam and the Central Asian C5 countries, including Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has issued a notification on the implementation of coordinated solutions.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that the C5 includes 5 Republics in Central Asia, namely: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. These are countries that have a good traditional friendship relationship with Vietnam and the enhancement of cooperation with this region has been regularly of interest to the leaders of both sides in recent times. Although the economic, trade, and investment cooperation between Vietnam and the C5 countries is still very modest, there is still a lot of potential and room for cooperation between them.
In the context of the C5 countries emerging as an area of political and economic importance in the world, and being vigorously promoted by major countries such as the United States, China, the Russian Federation, Turkey, and the European Union, it is necessary to build and implement comprehensive solutions to promote economic, trade, and investment cooperation between Vietnam and the C5 countries.
In order to promote economic, trade, and investment cooperation between Vietnam and the C5 countries, a series of solutions have been directed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, such as: improving and expanding legal frameworks for economic, trade, and investment cooperation; supporting information; strengthening trade promotion activities, connecting businesses; promoting cooperation in new economic models.
Regarding the solution of strengthening trade promotion activities and connecting businesses, the Minister of Industry and Trade assigned the Department of Europe-America Market to lead and coordinate with the Department of Organization to establish the Vietnamese Trade Representative Office in Kazakhstan (also in charge of the remaining 4 C5 countries: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan); to lead and coordinate with the E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency to research and build an electronic information portal connecting Vietnamese businesses with the C5 countries.
At the same time, increased research on C5 policies to support Vietnamese businesses in expanding investment and trade in this region in order to fully exploit the existing advantages of the C5.
