The signing of the document was followed by a conference discussing the role of African-Asian writers in bilateral integration, hosted by the VWA yesterday.— Photo tienphong

HA NOI (VNS)— The Viet Nam Writers Association (VWA) and its Egypt counterpart yesterday signed an agreement to strengthen co-operation in the field of literature.

Poet Huu Thinh, president of the VWR, said the agreement was significant as the Egypt Writers Association was the first writers body in Africa to sign an agreement with the VWA.

"I hope that the event will open a new chapter in the literary co-operation of the two countries," Thinh said.

Mohammed Salmawy, president of the Egypt Writers Association, said the agreement would facilitate visits between writers of both countries, and the translation of Vietnamese and Egyptian literary works.

Currently, Egyptian literature is not well-known in Viet Nam as very few works are translated into Vietnamese. The most prominent Egyptian writer in Viet Nam is Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz.

The signing of the document was followed by a conference discussing the role of African-Asian writers in bilateral integration, hosted by the VWA yesterday.

The conference discussed the role of literature in expressing the cultural and spiritual values of Asia and Africa, while promoting mutual-understanding and solidarity between the two continents. —VNS