Hanoi (VNA) – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s officialvisit to Vietnam from August 20-22 is expected to help consolidate and develop the traditional friendship between the two countries.

Vietnam and Kazakhstan set up their diplomatic ties on June29, 1992. Since then, the bilateral relations have been developing well invarious fields.

In July 2008, the Vietnamese Embassy in Kazakhstan was putinto operation, while the Central Asian country opened its embassy in Hanoi inMarch 2015.

The two countries have maintained regular high-leveldelegation exchanges as well as collaboration in both the bilateral framework and atmultilateral forums.

Kazakhstan backed Vietnam's candidacy for the United NationsHuman Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term, the UNESCO Executive Board and IntergovernmentalCommittee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage for the2022-2026 term. Meanwhile, Vietnam supported Kazakhstan to join the Mission tothe Far East of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Vietnam always pays attention to developing its cooperationwith Kazakhstan – its important partner in Central Asia. Two-way trade reached584 million USD in 2022, and 124.1 million USD in the first four months of thisyear.

Vietnam mainly exports phones and components, machinery,equipment, computers, electronic products, agricultural products, seafood,canned vegetables, clothes and footwear to Kazakhstan, while importing raw materialssuch as lead, zinc, iron and stainless steel, and products from non-ferrousmetals from the Central Asian nation.

Regarding tourism cooperation, the two sides currently haveseven direct flights per week. Since September 2019, Kazakhstan has appliedunilateral visa exemption for Vietnamese citizens for stays up to 30 days. In March 2023,the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism sent the Kazakh side a drafttourism cooperation plan between the two ministries for exchange and considerationof signing so as to create a basis to further strengthen the relationship inthis field.

In terms of education, the two sides signed a cooperationagreement in the sphere on September 15, 2009. Currently, there are six Vietnamesestudents learning at universities in Kazakhstan, and two Kazakh students inVietnam under this deal.

There are currently around 50 Vietnamese people living inKazakhstan.

The Kazakh President’s official visit to Vietnam takes placein the context that the traditional friendship between the two countries enjoysfine development. It is hoped to help lift the bilateral relations to a newheight./.