Congratulations to Iran on 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties hinh anh 1President Tran Dai Quang (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang on August 3 sent a message of congratulations to his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on the 45th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

On this occasion, Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan also cabled a congratulatory message to Speaker of the Parliament of Iran Ali Larijani.

The same day, Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh extended his greetings to Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Vietnam and Iran officially established diplomatic relations on August 4, 1973. Since then, the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Iran has been reinforced and developed fruitfully.

The two nations already signed a wide range of cooperation deals covering various fields, including an agreement on visa exemption for official passport holders, a MoU on cooperation in information and communication, an agreement on administrative cooperation and assistance in customs, an agreement on double taxation avoidance, a MoU on cooperation in technology, research and education, an agreement on investment encouragement and protection, a MoU on cooperation in culture, an agreement on aviation transport, and an agreement on commercial marine shipping.

In 2017, bilateral trade reached 164.5 million USD, including 131.8 million USD worth of Vietnamese exports. Vietnam mainly shipped rice, tea, coffee, garment-textiles and electronic components to Iran, while importing wheat, plastic materials, petrochemical products, garment-textile materials and metals from the Middle East country. Vietnam and Iran have set a target of 2 billion USD in two-way trade in the future.-VNA
VNA