By the Mail Editorial Board FLORAL emblems bespeak peoples' most cherished values and their intrinsic attitudes towards life. For most countries of the world, such emblems have evolved through a process of spontaneous, collective selection, mostly driven by cultural, social and intellectual visions of life, and have usually developed, over time, into national symbols. Since olden times, Egyptians have opted for the Lotus Flower as their floral emblem to highlight their deep faith in the loftiness of life, regeneration and prosperity. For the people of Vietnam, the Lotus, also known as the "flower of the dawn," stands as a symbol of commitment, beauty and knowledge. It was therefore a highly commendable and symbolically-rich gesture on the part of Vietnamese President Quang to present as a gift to Luxor antiquities officials the other day after attending a sound and light show and touring the sites of some of the world's most reputed and treasured antiquities in the city's vicinity a painting of the Lotus Flower, the floral emblem revered and shared by the Vietnamese and Egyptians. And the incorporation of a tour of Luxor's dazzling antiquities into President Quang‘s itinerary is a clear indication of the broadness and diversity of relations which have over the past few years witnessed noticeable growth. With President Quang's current four-day-long visit to Egypt coming in response to an invitation extended to him by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi while paying the first ever visit by an Egyptian leader to Hanoi around the same time last year, the two countries are underscoring reciprocal willingness to bolster bilateral relations through highest-level political contacts and communication. Contributing to the building of the shared interest in bolstering bilateral relations is a set of similarities between Egypt and Vietnam. Especially in terms of demographics, the two countries are of almost the same demographic size, with Vietnam's population reaching nearly 95 million in 2017 as Egypt's population is estimated now in the range of 98 million. It is also worth-mentioning that young people constitute the largest segment of population in both Egypt and Vietnam; hence the attention that the two countries are paying to the acceleration of developmental processes and the creation of the largest possible number of job opportunities. Economically, Egypt and Vietnam are exerting massive efforts to effectuate comprehensive economic growth, build vibrant market economies and attract fresh and/or additional investments. In terms of national development, Vietnam, according to the World Bank website, is now one of the most dynamic emerging countries in the East Asia region while Egypt is Africa's second largest economies and has launched a series of giant projects to spread sustainable development across the country. With the peaking of the developmental process as so evidenced by the many projects that have been accomplished or commissioned, the momentum for GDP growth coupled with serious and successful economic and legislative reforms is promising. According to published data, the GDP is forecast to grow by 5 per cent in FY 2018 and to increase gradually to 5.8 per cent by FY 2020. The availability of such a wide set of common approaches to the realisation of sustainable and comprehensive development brings Egypt and Vietnam closer in the search for optimised utilisation of existing and foreseeable co-operation in economic, trade, industrial and investment activities. Of tremendous relevance to joint action in this direction is the building of bridges of multi-faceted understanding between the two countries as especially represented by the exchange of leadership-level visits and summit meetings. And this is yet one more indication of the valuable contribution of summit talks to the furtherance of bilateral relations.
