Visit paves way for new cooperation opportunities between Vietnam

Could you please tell us the significance of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working trip to attend the first ASEAN - GCC Summit and visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?

- First of all, I would like to affirm that the working trip of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to attend the ASEAN - GCC Summit and visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was a great success, achieving and exceeding the set goals, aiming to actively implement the foreign policy of the 13th National Party Congress, which emphasizes the proactive strengthening of relations with other countries and finding new directions to expand economic cooperation for sustainable development, while promoting Vietnam's core role in regional and global multilateral cooperation forums and mechanisms.

The ASEAN - GCC Summit has special significance and achieved the set goals with many important results. Both sides affirmed their respect for each other's role and position, committed to strengthening and deepening relations, equal and mutually beneficial cooperation; it is expected that the ASEAN - GCC Summit will be held periodically every two years.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh witnessed the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the GCC Secretariat. Photo: VNA

At the end of the conference, ASEAN and GCC leaders adopted a Joint Statement, setting out directions for developing and enhancing ASEAN - GCC relations in the coming time.

Regarding relations with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, this visit to Saudi Arabia is the first working trip by a Vietnamese Prime Minister, creating an important premise for the two countries to strengthen political trust and open up new cooperation opportunities. At the same time, this is also an opportunity to strengthen relations with all the Gulf countries, a region with a total GDP of up to 2,200 billion USD, if considered as a single economy, it would rank 8th in the world.

Could you please tell us about the activities and outstanding results of the Prime Minister's recent working trip?

- The Prime Minister's visit to Saudi Arabia has paved the way for new cooperation opportunities between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia in particular and GCC member countries in general. During his 2 days in Saudi Arabia, the Prime Minister conducted 20 activities with diverse content and forms, achieving many specific results in all aspects.

Especially for Saudi Arabia, this is the first visit by a senior Vietnamese leader in 13 years and is very important, aiming to pave the way, seek and take advantage of cooperation opportunities between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia as well as countries in the Gulf region.

As the leaders of Saudi Arabia shared, they wish to join in accompanying Vietnam's bright future, and wish to turn their admiration for Vietnam into concrete cooperative actions in the coming time. The Emir of Qatar affirmed that there are no limits in cooperation with Vietnam; they will coordinate to remove all barriers and obstacles, promoting cooperation between the two sides in the coming time.

The countries also expressed their willingness to exchange, promote trade, open markets for Vietnam's agricultural and aquatic products and especially develop the Halal industry to open a new direction for Vietnam's agricultural and food industry.

In addition, the field of cooperation in labor is very important, including sending highly skilled Vietnamese workers to participate in major projects in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. Finally, promoting cooperation in tourism, enhancing connectivity, cultural exchange, and people-to-people exchanges between Vietnam and the Gulf countries.

In order to open up investment capital to Vietnam, Saudi Arabia's $620 billion Public Investment Fund has committed to devoting more resources to major infrastructure development projects in Vietnam. Many large Saudi Arabian corporations have affirmed that they will consider expanding their investment activities in Vietnam in areas such as steel, pre-engineered steel, retail, agriculture and clean energy, and hope to expand their business networks to ASEAN countries through Vietnam.

On the occasion of the visit, along with the successful organization of the Vietnam-Saudi Arabia Business Forum, the two sides also signed five cooperation documents in the fields of justice, diplomacy, crime prevention, tourism and trade promotion, thereby completing the legal framework and favorable cooperation conditions for the two countries in the coming time.

Thank you very much, Deputy Minister!

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