HÀ NỘI — President Võ Văn Thưởng chaired an official welcome ceremony for his Kazakhstani counterpart Kassym - Jomart Tokayev in Hà Nội on Monday.

The Kazakhstani President arrived in Hà Nội on Sunday for an official visit from August 20-22 at the invitation of President Thưởng.

The two presidents held talks right after the welcome ceremony.

Before the welcome ceremony, President Tokayev and his entourage laid a wreath at the monument to war martyrs and paid tribute to President Hồ Chí Minh at his mausoleum.

This is the first visit of a Kazakhstani President to Việt Nam in 12 years, and also the first time Tokayev visits Việt Nam in his new position.

Việt Nam and Kazakhstan set up their diplomatic ties on June 29, 1992. Since then, the bilateral relations have been developing well in various fields.

In July 2008, the Vietnamese Embassy in Kazakhstan was put into operation, while the Central Asian country opened its embassy in Hà Nội in March 2015.

The two countries have maintained regular high-level delegation exchanges as well as collaboration in both the bilateral framework and at multilateral forums.

The good political relationship has opened up many opportunities for economic and trade ties. Since the free trade agreement between Việt Nam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU - including Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) took effect in 2016, Kazakhstan has become the second biggest trade partner of Việt Nam in the EAEU. In 2021, Việt Nam-Kazakhstan trade accounted for 10 per cent of total trade between the Việt Nam-EAEU.

The visit of President Tokayev marks a new chapter in the Việt Nam-Kazakhstan economic-trade-tourism cooperation. The two sides are expected to sign over 10 cooperation agreements during the visit. — VNS