Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to the UAE will create momentum to attract UAE investment to Vietnam and create a breakthrough for Vietnamese goods and services to access the Gulf market.
At the invitation of President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, will pay an official visit to the UAE.
On this occasion, Vietnamese Ambassador to the UAE Nguyen Thanh Diep gave an interview to VNA reporters in the Middle East and North Africa about the significance of the visit as well as the prospects for cooperation between the two countries. The following is the content of the interview:
- Could you please tell us the significance of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to the UAE this time? What will be the highlights of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's activities and work in the UAE, Ambassador?
Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Diep : This is the first visit of a Vietnamese Prime Minister to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 15 years.
The visit is of special significance in consolidating political trust, enhancing Vietnam's relations in both breadth and depth with the UAE, creating momentum and expanding a new phase of cooperation between Vietnam and the UAE, especially in attracting UAE investment to Vietnam and creating a breakthrough for Vietnamese goods and services to access the Gulf market.
During Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to the UAE, the two countries are expected to sign the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Vietnam and the UAE.
The two sides will also have activities and working contents such as enhancing cooperation at international and regional forums and organizations; organizing Business Forums; creating breakthroughs in economic, trade and investment relations between the two countries; promoting people-to-people exchanges, enhancing cooperation in security, education, labor, climate change, environment and other fields; promoting the signing of cooperation documents to strengthen the legal framework for bilateral cooperation.
- How does the Ambassador assess the prospects of Vietnam-UAE cooperation in various fields, especially in areas where both sides have strengths?
Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Diep: With the expected signing of CEPA during the visit, relations between the two countries in the fields of politics, economics, trade, investment, culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchange will continue to develop strongly in the coming time.
In particular, the plan to sign CEPA - the first free trade agreement that Vietnam has negotiated with an Arab country in the Middle East, will open up great prospects, a new phase of common strategic cooperation in many fields between Vietnam and the UAE.
CEPA will be a legal basis, creating a new platform to further promote joint economic cooperation between the two countries, through reducing or eliminating tariffs on many types of goods and services.
The agreement will also enhance market access, boost foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and create new opportunities in a number of key sectors for the business communities of both countries.
Cooperation between Vietnam and the UAE in the fields of trade, investment, economy, industry, energy, logistics, agriculture and infrastructure, high technology, digital transformation, green transformation, innovation, labor cooperation, tourism, etc. will be promoted when the CEPA process opens.
- Dear Ambassador, what are the advantages, difficulties and opportunities for Vietnamese goods to reach UAE consumers?
Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Diep : Regarding advantages, Firstly , Vietnam-UAE relations are developing positively, political trust is increasing.
UAE leaders highly appreciated the relationship with Vietnam, emphasizing that Vietnam has become a bright spot in the Southeast Asian region, and at the same time wished to promote and elevate the relationship with Vietnam to diversify the market, multilateralize the relationship, creating a breakthrough in the economic relationship between the two countries in particular and the overall bilateral relationship between Vietnam and the UAE in general.
In addition, the UAE Government's Look East policy and diversification of partners for development is the driving force behind the implementation of bilateral and multilateral activities between the UAE and Vietnam and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), increasing the understanding of UAE people and businesses about Vietnam, and promoting import and export of goods between the two countries.
Second , in terms of trade, the UAE is an open and unique market. As domestic production is not enough to meet consumption, the UAE is almost entirely dependent on imported goods to serve domestic demand and re-export. This opens up opportunities for Vietnamese products.
Third , UAE businesses assess that Vietnam has a stable socio-political environment; has potential and an increasingly large economy. They also appreciate Vietnam's reform efforts, efforts to build and perfect open institutions, smooth infrastructure, and smart governance.
According to UAE businesses, Vietnam is a dynamic market with great potential, with diverse and quality goods, increasingly attracting the attention of the UAE and other countries.
Regarding difficulties, the UAE market is very competitive, so Vietnamese enterprises face many difficulties and challenges. Higher transportation costs due to the long geographical distance as well as differences in demand, culture, language, consumer tastes and business practices cause many disadvantages for Vietnamese enterprises in the UAE market.
Businesses from South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan have a huge influence in the UAE market, as these two countries have a large number of citizens living and working in the UAE.
Currently, the retail system in the UAE is mainly dominated by Indians and South Asians. In addition, most Vietnamese food and beverages do not have Halal certification, making it difficult to access the UAE market.
Besides, although propaganda and promotion work has been promoted in recent times, UAE people and businesses wishing to cooperate, invest and do business with Vietnam still lack information about the Vietnamese market.
- What specific cooperation mechanisms do the two countries need to promote to strengthen bilateral economic, trade and investment relations, Ambassador?
Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Diep : Firstly, at the macro level, the two countries need to continue promoting high-level visits, upgrading relations, increasing political trust, and creating the premise for expanding economic cooperation.
Upgrading relations plays a very important role for the UAE in expanding cooperation and investment in areas of interest to the UAE such as high technology, clean energy, artificial intelligence, computing technology, semiconductors, thereby creating opportunities for large Vietnamese corporations such as FPT, Viettel, Vingroup, etc. to participate.
It can be seen that the cooperation between the UAE and India, China, Japan and South Korea has increased rapidly after the UAE upgraded its relations with these countries.
Second, in terms of trade and investment, the two sides need to quickly develop the Halal market, support businesses in producing and exporting Halal products, support Vietnamese goods to access the UAE and regional supply chains, and meet the needs of Muslim tourists.
In the context of Vietnam's export products facing fierce competition, Vietnamese enterprises need to focus on products with differences and high competitive advantages, meeting the tastes of UAE consumers to create products with Vietnamese brands.
The two countries also need to promote the establishment of a business association in the UAE to play a role in creating a network of connections, providing information and advice, and minimizing cases of commercial disputes/fraud...
Regarding investment, Vietnam and the UAE need to establish a joint working group between the two countries to share information, enhance connectivity and advise on potential projects/partnerships between the two countries, and promote UAE investment in Vietnam's strengths such as energy, renewable energy, oil and gas, logistics, real estate, energy infrastructure, industrial infrastructure, industrial parks and industrial wastewater treatment.
- Thank you very much, Ambassador./.
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