Vietnamese State President Nguyen Minh Triet on July 15 met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen on the sidelines of the 15th Non-Aligned Summit in Egypt.

President Triet and PM Singh said they were pleased that the bilateral strategic partnership between the two countries has progressed in political diplomacy, trade and investment, science and technology, and education and training.

Triet congratulated Singh for his re-election as India ’s Prime Minister and on the high growth the Indian economy has yielded recently.

The Vietnamese leader suggested the two sides conduct more strategic and political dialogues that are in their agreement and become more active in regional and international forums such as this NAM summit, or the ASEAN-India forum and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

In his talks with Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, President Triet suggested both governments should create more favourable conditions for businesses to penetrate markets in Finland and Vietnam .

Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Finland has risen quickly but the trade value and volume remain limited.

Finnish investment in Vietnam currently stands at 60 million USD, which is still a long way from the potential, according to the President.

Also on July 15, a Vietnam-Egypt Business Forum was held in the capital city of Cairo , drawing the participation of executive leaders from over 70 leading companies of Vietnam and more than 100 local enterprises.

Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc and the Egyptian First Deputy Minister of international Cooperation, Nabil Abed El-Hamid, attended the event.

Speaking at the forum, Loc, El-Hamid and representatives of the participating companies highlighted their strengths as well as untapped great potentials.

They pledged to create favourable conditions, including the expansion of markets and tax incentives, to facilitate the flow of commodities into each other’s markets, and as well as to neighbouring countries.

The Egyptian side is committed to giving the best priority to Vietnamese investors who wish to pour investment in Egypt, particularly in oil and gas exploration and exploitation, industrial crops growing and aquaculture.

Vietnam and Egypt decided to establish a joint business council, with 30 members equally coming from both countries in a bid to raise annual two-way trade from the current modest sum of 170 million USD./.