Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s upcoming working trip to Saudi Arabia and attendance at the 8th Edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) are expected to create a new breakthrough in the development of relations between Vietnam and the Middle East country, reinforcing bilateral political trust and paving the way for a new cooperation period between the two countries.
The visit is to take place in the context where Vietnam and Saudi Arabia have enjoyed sound cooperation with substantive outcomes since they set up their diplomatic relations in October 1999.
Over the past 25 years, the two sides have strengthened the exchange of delegations at all levels and organised many investment forums, contributing to promoting economic and trade cooperation as well as people-to-people exchange.
Last year, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh led a high-ranking delegation to Saudi Arabia, helping to enhance the relationship between the two countries, and actively contributing to connecting the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), while opening up new cooperation opportunities, expanding the market for Vietnamese goods and services in Saudi Arabia and the GCC market, and promoting bilateral collaboration in trade, trade, energy, sustainable growth, labour, Halal industry, agro-fisheries, and tourism.
During the visit, the two sides successfully organised the Vietnam-Saudi Arabia Business Forum and signed five cooperation documents in the fields of justice, diplomacy, crime prevention and control, and tourism and trade promotion, thereby perfecting the legal framework and creating favourable conditions for bilateral cooperation in the coming time.
The two countries have coordinated with and support each other at multilateral and regional forums. Vietnam is ready to support Saudi Arabia in strengthening its cooperation with ASEAN as well as promoting cooperation between ASEAN and the GCC, while Saudi Arabia has continued to support the stance of ASEAN and Vietnam in settling regional and world issues.
Bright prospects for economic-trade cooperation
Along with sound political-diplomatic relations, economic and trade cooperation has also been a bright spot in the ties between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is currently Vietnam's third largest trading partner in the Middle East-North Africa region, with two-way trade reaching 2.68 billion USD in 2023. In the first nine months of 2024, the figure hit 2.21 billion USD.
As of September 2024, Saudi Arabia had ranked 79th out of the 148 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with eight projects worth 8.57 million USD.
Vietnam and Saudi Arabia are continuing to promote cooperation in such new areas as energy, investment, manufacturing industry, culture, Halal industry, and especially tourism and sports development.
Vietnam eyes great cooperation in Halal industry development with Saudi Arabia, one of the country’s priority partners and markets for Halal.
Besides, there is plenty of room for the two sides to promote agricultural development. Many Saudi Arabian businesses have shown their interest in Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural products and food, as the Middle East country is trying to diversify its supply sources to ensure food security.
Regarding development cooperation, the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) in Vietnam has provided soft loans to Vietnam with a total of more than 164.1 million USD for 12 projects.
In order to open up investment capital in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia's 620-billion-USD Public Investment Fund has committed more resources to major infrastructure development projects in Vietnam.
There are currently about 4,000 Vietnamese workers in Saudi Arabia in various fields such as construction, engineering, hospitality, and housekeeping. The two countries are working on a new labour cooperation agreement that is expected to be signed in the near future.
Creating breakthroughs in bilateral ties
Basing on the strong foundation built in 25 the past years and commitments of the two countries’ leaders and peoples, the Vietnam-Saudi Arabia relationship is expected to reach a new height in the future, meeting the aspirations and interest of both peoples.
The upcoming working trip by the Vietnamese Government leader to Saudi Arabia will mark another important milestone in bilateral ties, showing Vietnam’s great attention and wish to develop relations with the important Middle-East partner.
According to Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Hang, this will be the first time the PM attends the Future Investment Initiative (FII) as an official guest. PM Chinh will also be the only Asian leader to address the event.
Therefore, this trip is expected to help the two sides reinforce their political trust and bring bilateral relations to a new height, while creating breakthroughs in their cooperation in economy, trade, investment and new areas, bringing about new momentum for a new cooperation period between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia - one of the countries with the largest economic scale and most important role in the Middle East, one of the world's most dynamically developing regions, Hang said./.
