This is the first visit of the Vietnamese PM to UAE and Qatar after 15 years and his second visit within a year to Saudi Arabia. Most recently, PM Pham Minh Chinh and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation visited Saudi Arabia from October 18 to 20, 2023. The PM's visits to the three countries of the Middle East will contribute to implementing the Party's foreign policy and the project on developing ties between Vietnam and the Middle East - African countries for the 2016-2025 period; demonstrating the appreciation and desire to enhance relations with important partners in the Middle East, opening a new phase of cooperation between Vietnam and the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
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Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (left) holds talks with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman on October 20, 2023, as part of his visit to the Middle East country and attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit. (Photo: VNA) |
The visits are expected to create a breakthrough in attracting foreign investment in Vietnam, promoting cooperation in new fields, and opening the door for Vietnamese goods and services to access potential Gulf markets. The UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are economic and energy powers in the Middle East, with a stable socio-political situation and playing an important role in the region. The UAE is the country with the largest FDI investment funds in the world. Qatar is one of the countries with the highest per capita income in the world, the leading financial and commercial center in the Middle East, and also the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Saudi Arabia is an influential country in the Islamic world, the Arab countries, and the oil exporting countries (OPEC), and is the world's leading oil exporter.
In recent years, the UAE has actively implemented the "Look East" policy, treasuring its relations with Asian countries, including Vietnam. Qatar has promoted its goal of becoming a developed country with advanced social infrastructure and high quality of life via implementing four policy pillars on socio-economics, people, and environment; accelerating economic diversification, making Qatar an important destination for investors. Saudi Arabia has focused on investing in green economy, digital transformation, and innovation and had a high demand for experts in these fields.
It can be seen that Vietnam and the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia share many similarities in socio-economic development strategies as well as a common vision on development goals. With their potential, there remains much room for Vietnam and the three countries to promote multi-faceted cooperation, especially in economy, trade, and investment. In particular, Vietnam's promulgation of the project on strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam's Halal industry by 2030 - the first project to provide major national orientations to open up the potential Halal market, has created more opportunities to intensify cooperation with the Middle East-Africa countries, in which the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are Vietnam's priority partners and markets for Halal.
The PM’s visits take place in the context that the relations between Vietnam and the three countries have been growing well, affirming that they are important and leading partners in the region. The Vietnam-UAE cooperation has obtained many substantive outcomes and become important partners in the region. The UAE is the first country in the Middle East-Africa region which Vietnam has discussed lifting relations to a new height. The country stands as Vietnam's largest export market in the Middle East and Africa. In June last year, the two countries held negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
The Vietnam-Qatar relations have witnessed positive development over the past 30 years. In particular, activities in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Qatar diplomatic relations in 2023 created momentum and opened up new directions for development in bilateral relations. On this occasion, the two sides discussed and proposed many specific measures to strengthen bilateral cooperation, especially in politics-diplomacy, investment, trade, oil and gas, Halal, and labor, to name but a few.
The ties with Saudi Arabia have been further consolidated and developed in many fields over the past 25 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1999. In the political-diplomatic, the two countries have built a relationship of trust and become leading partners of each other in the region. Economic-trade cooperation has been considered a bright spot in bilateral relations. Many Saudi Arabian enterprises wish to expand their business in Vietnam, while many major Saudi Arabian investment funds have been implementing many direct and indirect investment projects in Vietnam in real estate, energy, and steel.
With the increasingly solid foundations built by Vietnam, the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia based on the strengths and potentials of each country, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visits are expected to bring Vietnam’s relations with the three countries to new heights, meeting the aspirations and interests of the people of each country, for peace, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
Translated by Quynh Oanh