Proposing Saudi Arabia to support the development of Halal industry and tourism infrastructure

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai received the Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia. Photo : VGP

On August 28, at the Government Headquarters, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai received Mr. Ahmed bin Aqeel-Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai expressed his pleasure to receive Mr. Ahmed bin Aqeel-Khateeb and wished the Saudi Arabian Minister of Tourism a successful visit to Vietnam. Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai emphasized that Vietnam attaches importance to further strengthening the friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Saudi Arabia, an important partner of Vietnam in the Middle East.

In 2024, the two countries will celebrate the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations. Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai suggested that the two sides coordinate to organize many activities towards this anniversary, especially promoting tourism, exchange, culture and art to introduce the country and people, and enhance mutual understanding between the people of the two countries.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai affirmed: Vietnam consistently implements a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and diversification; is a good friend and reliable partner of countries in the region and the world and is an active and responsible member of the international community. For the purpose of maintaining a peaceful, stable, cooperative and developing environment in the region and the world. In its overall foreign policy, Vietnam always attaches importance to the overall cooperative and friendly relationship between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia.

In recent times, despite the complicated developments in the world situation, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the efforts of the entire political system and people of all walks of life, and the support of international friends including Saudi Arabia, Vietnam's socio-economic situation has recovered positively and achieved important results. On that basis, the Deputy Prime Minister hopes that the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia will have practical and effective development in the coming time.

Speaking at the reception, Mr. Ahmed bin Aqeel-Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, sent respectful greetings from the King and Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the leaders and people of Vietnam; congratulated Vietnam on the occasion of National Day September 2, 2023.

The Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia said that yesterday he visited the National History Museum and was very impressed with the heroic history of the Vietnamese people.

Reviewing the successful cooperation results between the two countries over the past 20 years, and sharing the development orientations of Saudi Arabia in the coming time, Minister Ahmed bin Aqeel-Khateeb expressed his hope that Vietnam and Saudi Arabia will continue to promote cooperation in areas such as: Energy (petrochemicals, green energy), investment, manufacturing industry, culture, Halal industry, especially cooperation in tourism and sports development...

Minister Ahmed bin Aqeel-Khateeb affirmed that Saudi Arabia will provide maximum support to Vietnamese businesses investing in Saudi Arabia as well as other countries in the Middle East region.

Thanking Minister Ahmed bin Aqeel-Khateeb for his positive assessment of Vietnam, as well as sharing the potential for cooperation between the two countries in the coming time, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai highly appreciated the positive developments in bilateral cooperation in recent times. At the same time, he expressed his hope that in the coming time, Vietnam will expand cooperation not only with Saudi Arabia but also with countries in the Arab community and Islamic countries.

Specifically, regarding trade and investment cooperation, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai said that Saudi Arabia is currently one of Vietnam's leading economic partners in the Middle East with two-way trade turnover in 2022 reaching 2.7 billion USD, up 32.4% compared to 2021. He hopes that in the coming time, investment cooperation between the two countries will have more positive and effective developments, including cooperation in green energy development.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that Vietnam recently issued the Project "Strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam's Halal industry by 2030". This is the first project to provide major national orientations to open up the potential Halal market with Saudi Arabia as one of the priority partners and markets.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai asked Saudi Arabia to support the development of Halal industry and tourism infrastructure.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai proposed that Saudi Arabia support Vietnam in developing the Halal industry and accessing the market for goods and services according to Halal Islamic standards in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries through investment in production, training and experience sharing, thereby enhancing economic, trade and tourism cooperation between the two countries.

Emphasizing that Vietnam's agricultural potential is huge and is currently focusing on producing high-quality products, the Deputy Prime Minister suggested that Saudi Arabia facilitate the import of Vietnam's key products such as rice, tea, pepper, coffee, rubber, textiles, etc. to access the market.

Regarding the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), the Fund has recently provided preferential loans for 13 projects in Vietnam. Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai suggested that the Minister, in his capacity as Executive Chairman of the SFD Fund, continue to support further cooperation between Vietnam and the Fund, creating conditions for continued preferential loans for social security projects in Vietnam.

Regarding tourism, the Deputy Prime Minister suggested that Saudi Arabia pay attention to and support Vietnam in investing in developing tourism infrastructure, especially products that Arab people need to connect tourism between the two countries.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai said that Vietnam has been an official member of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) since 1981, under the East Asia - Pacific Commission. Thanking UNWTO for supporting Vietnam in the past in areas such as tourism planning and tourism product development, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai hoped that in the coming time, as Chairman of the UNWTO Executive Council, the Minister would actively promote UNWTO to continue supporting Vietnam in areas such as: Coordinating with Vietnam to organize major UNWTO events in Vietnam (like the Spiritual Tourism Conference in Trang An, Bai Dinh in 2013, the Sports Tourism Conference in Da Nang in 2017). "Vietnam will fulfill its obligations well," Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai affirmed.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai expressed his belief and hope that the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia will continue to develop and achieve greater success in the coming time.

*Previously, as reported, on the afternoon of August 27 in Hanoi, Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung had a meeting and worked with Saudi Arabia's Minister of Tourism Ahmed bin Aqeel-Khateeb. At the meeting, the two Ministers agreed on many solutions for tourism development cooperation in the spirit of mutual benefit of the two countries.

Accordingly, Minister Nguyen suggested that Vietnam and Saudi Arabia soon study and sign a memorandum of understanding on long-term tourism cooperation; as a basis for implementing tourism stimulus activities and guest exchange. One of the solutions that Minister Nguyen Van Hung noted was that in February 2023, the Prime Minister of Vietnam issued a Decision approving the Project "Strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam's Halal industry by 2030". This is the first project to provide major, national-level orientations to open up the potential Halal market. In particular, tourism is considered one of the priority areas. Saudi Arabia is one of the key partners and markets. However, Halal is an industry that Vietnam does not have much experience in developing. Therefore, the Minister suggested that Saudi Arabia support technology transfer, helping Vietnam design tourism products suitable for the market of this country and other Muslim countries; help tourists have more opportunities to learn about Vietnamese culture and cuisine.

TUNG QUANG

Source: http://www.baovanhoa.vn/chinh-tri/thoi-su/artmid/564/articleid/68347/de-nghi-saudi-arabia-ho-tro-phat-trien-cong-nghiep-halal-ha-tang-du-lich