Kazakhstan president to visit Vietnam after 12 years

By Vu Anh, Nguyen Tien August 17, 2023 | 03:28 pm PT

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev speaks at the country's capital Nur-Sultan, January 2022. Photo by Reuters

The president of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will visit Vietnam Sunday through Tuesday next week in the first official Vietnam visit by a Kazakhstani president in 12 years.

Tokayev assumed his position in 2019 and initially planned to visit Vietnam in June, but his trip had to be postponed due to forest fires in Kazakhstan’s Abay Province, Vietnam’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang told a press conference on Thursday.

Vietnam and Kazakhstan established diplomatic relations on June 29, 1992. Ever since the Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Free Trade Agreement went into effect in 2016, bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and Kazakhstan has increased by around 28% annually, with the figure reaching $600 million in 2022. The two countries now aim for trade turnover to reach $1.5 billion by 2030.

Kazakhstan has five FDI projects in Vietnam, with a total registered capital of $500,000, focusing on science, technology, telecommunications and retail.

Around 10,000 visitors travel from Kazakhstan to Vietnam a year.