Bishkek (VNA) - Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan held bilateral meetings with senior officials and met with the Vietnamese community in Bishkek on August 31 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Plus Summit in the Kyrgyz capital.
Xuan met with Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), discussing ways to expand trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
She praised the EEC and Sagintayev for their role in promoting the implementation of commitments under the Vietnam-EAEU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and called for greater use of the agreement to boost trade and investment and deliver tangible benefits to businesses and people on both sides.
She proposed that the two sides continue studying amendments and upgrades to the FTA to reflect new circumstances and better match the economic potential and cooperation needs of Vietnam and the EAEU, while ensuring balanced benefits.
Xuan also called on the EAEU to remove trade barriers related to safeguard measures, particularly those affecting textiles, garments, footwear and leather goods, and to continue paying attention to trade-defence measures concerning rice.
Sagintayev said bilateral trade between Vietnam and the EAEU had doubled but there remained significant room for further growth. He called for closer exchanges and reconciliation of trade statistics to address bottlenecks, as well as an early meeting of the joint committee and the signing of a protocol on electronic certificates of origin.
Xuan welcomed Sagintayev's proposals, saying Vietnam's leaders, particularly General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam, attaches great importance to implementing international agreements and commitments.
Vietnam is in the process of renewing its development model and calls for broader cooperation in high-tech sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and energy transition, she said.
The EAEU is one of Vietnam's important trading partners. In the 10 years since the FTA took effect, bilateral trade grew by nearly 30% annually in 2017-2018 and almost doubled in 2025, as compared to 2016.
The Vietnamese Vice President also met Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Hussein Mohamed Ahmed Eissa, reaffirming that Vietnam highly values Egypt's important role and influence in the region and treasures its traditional friendship with the country.
She welcomed positive developments in bilateral ties, particularly since the two countries upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive partnership during then-President Luong Cuong's visit to Egypt in August 2025.
To deepen bilateral ties, Xuan called for more high-level delegation exchanges and conveyed an invitation from General Secretary and President To Lam to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to visit Vietnam.
As Vietnam and Egypt have comparable population and economic sizes, she called for greater use of their respective strengths to expand economic, trade and investment cooperation and accelerate negotiations on a Vietnam-Egypt FTA.
She also urged continued mutual support at regional and international multilateral forums, saying Vietnam was ready to promote ties between ASEAN and both the Arab League and the African Union.
Xuan praised Eissa's contributions as Chairman of the Vietnam-Egypt Parliamentary Friendship Group during his tenure as a member of the Egyptian Parliament, and expressed hope that he would continue to serve as a bridge for closer cooperation between the two countries, particularly between their parliaments
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Eissa said the Egyptian people admired Vietnam's victory in its struggle for national independence and reunification and were impressed by its socio-economic achievements today.
Building on the two countries' longstanding friendship, Egypt wants to expand cooperation with Vietnam in areas including agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, digital transformation, education and training, and renewable energy, he stated.
Earlier the same day, Xuan met with Vietnamese community members in Bishkek to learn about their lives and businesses and share the latest policies of the Party and State concerning Vietnamese people overseas.
According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Nguyen Thanh Le, the Vietnamese community in Kyrgyzstan numbers about 300 people, mainly employees of ROX Group, which is carrying out major investment projects in the country.
Applauding the community’s efforts, Xuan noted that although the community is small, its members have remained united and supportive, working together to build their lives and businesses while fostering good ties with local residents.
She also praised the initial successes of Vietnamese businesses, particularly ROX, in investment and business activities, as well as their efforts to promote Vietnamese culture abroad.
Briefing the community on key new provisions of Politburo Resolution No. 23, she said they provide stronger guidance for overseas Vietnamese to develop and make greater contributions to their homeland.
On August 31 evening, the Vietnamese Vice President joined heads of state and government leaders from participating countries at the opening ceremony of the sixth World Nomad Games./.
