Within the framework of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang's official visit to Egypt, on July 27, 2023, at the Office of the Cabinet of Egypt, under the witness of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and Deputy Governor Rami Aboul Naga of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the bilateral cooperation in the banking sector.
Regarding the cooperation between the commercial banks of the two countries, as of December 31, 2022, Vietnamese commercial banks had established 38 agency relationships with the banks in Egypt, with a total volume of the two-way transactions and money transfers reaching USD 204 million, which is the highest level among countries in Africa. Considering the large scale of trade and investment between the two sides (Egypt is currently Vietnam's top trading partner in North Africa, with the trade turnovers growing steadily on an annual basis and having reached nearly USD 600 million in 2022, and the goal of increasing the two-way trade volume to USD 1 billion; Egypt now has 21 FDI projects in Vietnam, with a total capital of USD 2.83 million in Vietnam), it can be seen that there is a lot of space for the development in the cooperation between the two banking systems.
In the context of the enhancement of the cooperative relations between Vietnam and Egypt, the signing and implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on the bilateral cooperation between the SBV and the Central Bank of Egypt would contribute to creating a framework for the establishment of an official mechanism for the cooperation and information exchange between the two central banks, thereby promoting the cooperation between the two banking sectors, as well as promoting the trade and investment activities of Vietnamese enterprises in the region.
Le Hang