Vice President Hoa, on a working visit to Egypt on June 13, also met with Ahmed Fathi Sourour, Speaker of the Egyptian People's Assembly.

Earlier, the Vice President was received by Egyptian President Mohammed Hosni Moubarak while attending the 16th Global Summit of Women in Cairo from June 10-12.

PM Nazif said that Egypt and Viet Nam, both being major exporters and importers, should study possibilities for cooperation and trade, focusing on potential import and export goods.

The Egyptian PM highly valued the result of the session of the Viet Nam-Egypt Joint Committee in Cairo last March, which, he said, was successful because it attracted attention of many Egyptian businesses. He expressed his special interest in Vietnamese fisheries sector and his hope to develop bilateral cooperation with Viet Nam in aquaculture.

The PM also spoke highly of the cooperation agreement between the two countries on bird flu prevention and poverty reduction.

He accepted the invitation to visit Viet Nam from the Vietnamese Government with pleasure and pledged to arrange the visit as soon as possible.

For her part, Vice President Hoa said that over the past 40 years, Viet Nam-Egypt relations have been constantly promoted by leaders and people of the two countries. On behalf of the Vietnamese Government and people, Vice President Hoa expressed her deep gratitude to Egypt for its valuable assistance to Viet Nam in the past struggle for national independence as well as present national construction.

She reiterated Viet Nam's policy of diversification and multilateralisation of relations with foreign countries, and active international integration. Viet Nam attaches importance to promoting development cooperation with traditional friendly countries, developing countries and non-aligned countries, including Egypt, the Vice President added.

She pointed to similarities in history and great potential for cooperation in such areas as health care, education, agriculture and fisheries.

Speaking with the Speaker, Vice President Hoa highlighted the important role that continuous development of cooperative ties between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Egyptian People's Assembly would play in enhancing mutual understanding between the two peoples and fostering comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

In order to further boost the friendly and cooperative ties between Viet Nam and Egypt, it's necessary for the two countries to step up exchanges of high-ranking officials' visits, including delegations from the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Egyptian People's Assembly, Vice President Hoa noted.

For his part, the Speaker highlighted the time-honoured relations between the two countries, saying that Egypt was the first country among the United Arab Emirates to establish an embassy in Viet Nam during war time.

He expressed his appreciation for Viet Nam's success in developing a market economy while keeping its socialist orientation and wishes for increased cooperation between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Egyptian People's Assembly, as well as between the two governments and peoples.

On this occasion, a business forum was co-organised by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Egyptian Commercial and Industrial Federation and the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation, bringing all together over 150 Vietnamese and Egyptian businesses./.