The same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also sent greetings to his Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim.
On the occasion, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh congratulated Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Vietnam and Turkey set up diplomatic relations on June 7, 1978. In February 1997, Turkey established its embassy in Hanoi. In October 1999, Vietnam opened a Trade Representative Office in Istanbul and in July 2002, Vietnam launched its Consulate General, also in Istanbul. The Consulate General was upgraded to an embassy and moved to Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, in October 2003.
Turkey is the leading trade partner of Vietnam in the Middle East. In the first ten months of last year, two-way trade reached 2.6 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of up tp 63.52 percent, with Vietnam earning 2.42 billion USD from exports to Turkey, up 70.92 percent annually.
In June 2016, the Turkish Airlines opened an air route connecting Hanoi and Istanbul through Ho Chi Minh City with seven flights per week. Earlier, the two countries signed agreements on aviation, maritime transportation and double tax avoidance.-VNA
