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| Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai received Mr. Ahmed bin Aqeel-Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia. (Source: VNA) |
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.
Appreciating the positive developments in bilateral cooperation in recent times, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai 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.
The Deputy Prime Minister 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.
Recently, Vietnam 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 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 as well as other Muslim countries, through investment in production, training and experience sharing, thereby enhancing economic, trade and tourism cooperation between the two countries.
Stating that Vietnam's agricultural potential is huge and is moving towards producing high-quality products, the Deputy Prime Minister suggested that Saudi Arabia facilitate the import of Vietnam's strong products such as rice, tea, pepper, coffee, rubber, textiles, etc.
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 requested the Minister, in his capacity as Executive Chairman of the Fund, to continue to support further cooperation between Vietnam and the Fund, creating conditions for continued preferential loans for social security projects in Vietnam.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, 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 areas such as tourism planning and tourism product development, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai hopes that, as Chairman of the Executive Council, the Minister will actively promote the Organization to continue supporting and coordinating the organization of major UNWTO events in Vietnam such as the Spiritual Tourism Conference in Trang An, Bai Dinh in 2013, and the Sports Tourism Conference in Da Nang in 2017.
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.
Speaking at the reception, His Excellency Ahmed bin Aqeel-Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, sent the warmest greetings from the King and Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the leaders and people of Vietnam; and congratulated Vietnam on its National Day, September 2. The Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia said that yesterday he visited the National History Museum and was very impressed with the glorious 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.
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