Illustrative image (Photo: Internet) Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visit to Saudi Arabia from October18-20 is expected to create a new impetus for bilateral ties and open up new prospects for futurecooperation.
Saudi Arabia boasts the largesteconomy in the Gulf region and is one of Vietnam's leading economic partners inthe Middle East. At present, a significant number of Saudi Arabian firms areshowing interest in Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural and food products,as the Middle East country is diversifying its supply to ensure food security.
Statisticsshowed that two-way trade surpassed 2.7 billion USD last year, up 32.4%annually. Many Saudi Arabian conglomerates and investment funds areeffectively deploying direct and indirect investment projects in Vietnam in sectorslike real estate, energy and steel.
However, the trade relationship between Vietnam and SaudiArabia remains modest and is yet to meet expectations of both sides. Last year,two-way trade was equivalent to just 0.4% of Vietnam's total foreign trade and0.61% of Saudi Arabia's.
In the first seven months of this year, Vietnam's exportsto Saudi Arabia exceeded 608 million USD, marking a 60% increase year on year,the most impressive figure so far.
Notably, more andmore SaudiArabian enterprises wish to step up cooperation with Vietnam in trade,investment, energy, seaports, Halal food, tourism and innovation. Vietnam also alreadyintroduced a scheme on enhancing international cooperation to build and developthe Halal industry in Vietnam by 2030, the first of its kind with anational-scale vision, to open up the potentially lucrative Halal market incollaboration with Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabian Ambassadorto Vietnam MohammedIsmaeil A. Dahlwy said over the past 24years, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam have built a strong and amicable relationship,becoming a significant regional partner of each other. Despite globaluncertainties in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, both Vietnam and SaudiArabia have made remarkable recoveries and achieved significant milestones.
The VietnamTrade Office in Saudi Arabia said the office has successfully established a showroom for Vietnamese products in Saudi Arabia, featuringsamples from 140 businesses, including farm produce, food, canned fish, sauces,beverages, confectionery, cosmetics, apparel, interior décor, constructionmaterials, household appliances, medical supplies, coal, agarwood, amongothers.
The office has also brought samples of Vietnameseproducts to 10 Saudi Arabian localities to introduce them to local companies, held an annual Vietnamese ProductPromotion Week in the Lulu supermarket chain, and worked for the removal ofthe ban on the import of Vietnamese aquatic products.
Head of the trade office Tran Trong Kim noted that Saudi Arabia has stringent requirements for food quality andsafety. Therefore, imported meat, frozen and chilled food, beverages,confectionery, milk and dairy products, cooking oil, and fat must have Halalcertification while other goods require SASO certification (equivalent to ISO).
Furthermore, it is advisable for firms to provide productsamples for partners with clear product information and contact inEnglish, he said, adding that they should proactively plan the establishment ofrepresentative offices or joint ventures in the market, thus making it easierfor their partners to actively expand the market that meets customer needs andpreferences./.
