Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung suggested to the visiting Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali Ibrahim Al Naimi, that both countries establish a cooperation committee.

Receiving the minister in Hanoi on June 10, Dung praised the results of talks between the Saudi Arabian Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and leaders of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).

Vietnam wishes to cooperate with Saudi Arabia as well as all other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, said PM Dung, adding that the country hopes to soon welcome other Saudi Arabian ministers.

He also suggested that both countries should establish a cooperation committee.

For his part, Minister Al Naimi expressed his good impressions of Vietnam during his first visit to the country. He confirmed that besides the oil and gas industry, Saudi Arabia wishes to boost strategic cooperation with Vietnam in other fields such as agriculture, trade, construction and services.

He said that he believed several other Saudi Arabian ministers will visit Vietnam in the near future to expand relations between the two countries.

During his talks with the Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade and the heads of PetroVietnam on June 9, both parties agreed to draw up a strategic alliance on oil and gas development. In the immediate future, Saudi Arabia will provide Vietnam with crude oil.