Vietnam and Saudi Arabia are about to celebrate 25 years of diplomatic relations. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working trip to Saudi Arabia will create new momentum, opening up cooperation opportunities for both countries.

At the invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will lead a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to attend the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit and visit Saudi Arabia from October 18-20.

VietNamNet had an interview with Vietnamese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dang Xuan Dung about this important working trip.

FIRST SUMMIT BETWEEN ASEAN AND GCC

Ambassador, please assess the current relationship between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, especially when the two countries will celebrate the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2024. What is the significance of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to Saudi Arabia and attendance at the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council conference?

In recent years, the relationship between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia has seen remarkable developments in many areas. In terms of politics, the two sides signed an agreement to establish a political consultation mechanism (July 2021) in an online format at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic was still complicated.

In addition, Saudi Arabia, through the King Salman Humanitarian Relief Center, has provided medical equipment, supplies and finance worth a total of 800,000 USD to support Vietnam in preventing and fighting Covid-19 and supporting people in some provinces to overcome the consequences of natural disasters and floods.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Information and Communications during meetings and working sessions with leaders of Saudi Arabia. Photo: VGP, International Newspaper

The exchange of delegations resumed as soon as the Covid-19 epidemic was controlled with the visit of Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to Vietnam (March 2022), followed by the visit of Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Hieu and the holding of the first Political Consultation Meeting between the two countries (February 2023), the visit to Vietnam of Saudi Arabian Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb (August 2023), and the visit to Saudi Arabia of Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung.

In the coming time, in December 2023, the two countries are expected to hold the 5th Meeting of the Joint Committee to review bilateral relations since the 4th Meeting and propose directions to strengthen relations.

2024 will mark a quarter-century in bilateral relations and the two sides are actively planning activities to celebrate this important milestone.

This ASEAN-GCC Summit is the first summit between ASEAN and GCC countries, taking place in the context of the increasingly affirmed role of ASEAN and GCC in the region and the world. Relations between the two blocs have been increasingly strengthened when all 6 members of the GCC have signed the document of accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC).

This conference will open up new development directions between ASEAN and the GCC, especially in areas with great potential between member countries such as trade, investment, tourism, culture and people-to-people exchange...

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh 's working trip to Saudi Arabia this time is the highest-level activity of Vietnam in Saudi Arabia since the visit of former President Nguyen Minh Triet (April 2010).

The visit takes place in the context of the two countries preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working trip will certainly create new momentum to promote relations between the two countries. The Prime Minister's activities will focus on promoting investment, economic, trade, and labor relations...

Could you please share the important contents and highlights of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit and work in Saudi Arabia?

Some important contents of the Prime Minister's working trip include: together with the countries attending the conference, Vietnam has contributed to the content of the conference documents, striving for the common success of this first-ever summit.

GCC and ASEAN member countries.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is expected to have meetings with senior leaders of several ASEAN and GCC countries, contributing to promoting and further strengthening relations between Vietnam and these countries.

During the meetings with leaders of several important ministries and sectors of Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will discuss with his host country the main orientations and measures to strengthen relations between ministries and sectors of the two countries.

In addition to attending and speaking at the Bilateral Business Forum, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also had private meetings with leaders of several large corporations and companies in Saudi Arabia. These meetings will be substantive, opening up economic cooperation opportunities for both sides.

EXPECTATIONS FOR VIETNAM - SAUDI ARABIA RELATIONS

Vietnam and Saudi Arabia still have much room to promote cooperation, especially in the economic field. Saudi Arabia is one of Vietnam's leading trade partners in the Middle East. Could you please assess the potential for economic cooperation between the two countries?

Currently, Saudi Arabia is developing rapidly in the direction of Vision 2030. Accordingly, the local demand for all types of goods, necessities, services, labor, techniques, and technology is increasing rapidly, so the potential for Vietnam is huge.

We can strengthen cooperation with Saudi Arabia based on our existing strengths in three areas.

In terms of trade, there is potential for Vietnam to continue to increase exports of agricultural products, seafood, food, Halal food, garments, footwear, furniture, charcoal, computers, electronic components, phones, construction materials, etc. Vietnam increases imports of input materials for domestic production such as plastic materials, chemicals, chemical products, liquefied gas, oil, etc.

Currently, the import-export turnover between the two countries reaches 2.7 billion USD, Vietnam exports agricultural products, machinery and equipment, construction materials, furniture, means of transport and spare parts, expected to reach 3 billion USD in 2023. With the current growth rate, it is expected to reach 3.5 billion USD by 2025.

Vietnam takes on the role of chairman of the ASEAN Committee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 20230101130445.jpg

Ambassador Dang Xuan Dung took over as Chairman of the ASEAN Committee in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

Regarding tourism, Vietnam has many advantages in attracting tourists from the Middle East and Saudi Arabia due to the culture and habits of long-term travel with the whole family and large spending. The tourism industry and tourism businesses of Vietnam need to take advantage and design resort tour packages, health care tours, rehabilitation tours... suitable for groups of customers with great potential but also have specific needs regarding Halal culture and beliefs.

Regarding labor, Saudi Arabia is being built to develop into a regional and world financial, technological and logistics center, attracting many skilled workers, software engineers, electrical and electronic technology, smart technology, new innovation and energy saving, sustainable development with good remuneration. Therefore, in addition to supplying traditional unskilled labor, Vietnam can target a group of highly skilled technical workers including software engineers to meet the needs of new and large projects here.

What are the Ambassador's expectations for this working trip in terms of bilateral relations?

I believe that, bilaterally, this visit will further consolidate the political-diplomatic, economic and trade foundations between the two countries, creating momentum for bilateral relations to develop strongly not only in the immediate future but also in the medium and long term, practically serving the interests of the people of the two countries and contributing to peace and prosperity in both regions.

Thank you Ambassador!