Kuwait City (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on November 17 visited Kuwait’s Al-Zour Refinery, the second largest one in the Middle East, as part of his official visit to the Gulf country.
Construction for the complex started in 2017, and it began commercial operations in late 2022. The project has a total investment of approximately 27 billion USD. The complex, managed and operated by the Kuwait National Petroleum Company, has a design capacity of producing 615,000 barrels per day, accounting for around 43.5% of Kuwait’s domestic refining capacity.
In addition to fuel and petrochemicals production, the complex symbolises Kuwait’s strategic direction under the “Kuwait Vision 2035” programme, which aims to move from purely oil extraction to development of a domestic refining system, enhancing local value while adhering to advanced environmental standards.
The Al-Zour complex is designed to process various types of Kuwaiti crude, including Kuwait heavy crude (KHC). It primarily supplies clean fuel oil to power plants, with plans for a full conversion under consideration.
Earlier, during talks between PM Chinh and Kuwaiti PM Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the two sides agreed to promote cooperation in the oil and gas sector, including the expansion of the Nghi Son Refinery project. Vietnam expressed its readiness to provide oil and gas services and high-quality personnel for projects in Kuwait, and to extend collaboration to new projects, notably the construction of fuel storage and transshipment facilities in Vietnam.
During his tour of the refinery, PM Chinh called on the Kuwait National Petroleum Company to share its experience, technology, management expertise, and investment cooperation in Vietnam’s oil and gas sector, including refining, storage and distribution. He highlighted potential collaboration on Vietnam’s major refining projects and the development of trade in oil, gas and petrochemical products such as crude oil, liquefied petroleum gas, and other petroleum products.
On the afternoon of November 16, PM Chinh visited the Arab Heritage Building, where he held a working session with Director General Waleed AL-Bahar and colleagues from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED).
The PM highly appreciated the KFAED's effective support for Vietnam, with concessional and non-refundable loans provided for 15 projects in various localities with a total value of over 183 million USD, contributing to the completion of essential infrastructure, social welfare, climate change mitigation, and improvement of people’s life quality, especially in remote areas.
He noted that during this visit to Kuwait, leaders of Vietnam and Kuwait agreed to upgrade the countries' relationship to a strategic partnership, laying a solid foundation for deeper and more substantive bilateral cooperation in the coming period.
He suggested the KFAED continue supporting Vietnam in areas such as social welfare, rural development, water supply, sanitation, health care, education, climate-resilient infrastructure, and disaster recovery.
Sharing Vietnam’s two 100-year strategic goals, PM Chinh emphasised that Vietnam aims for fast yet sustainable development based on science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation, as well as a green economy, circular economy, sharing economy, and knowledge-based economy, including emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor, the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, biotechnology, and marine economy.
To facilitate development, Vietnam is implementing three strategic breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure, and human resources with the approach of open institutional frameworks, seamless infrastructure, and smart human resources and governance. This includes many transformative projects such as expressways; high-speed rail, urban rail, and standard-gauge rail connecting with international destinations; large-scale seaports and airports; energy projects including nuclear, wind, and solar power; and an international financial centre.
The Government leader recommended that with its capacity, the KFAED directly and indirectly invest in projects and sectors that Vietnam prioritises as mentioned above. He called on the fund to connect Kuwaiti enterprises to come to explore investment opportunities in potential fields such as industry-logistics, renewable energy, green economy, and the Halal ecosystem, while supporting Vietnamese businesses in accessing information and cooperation opportunities in Kuwait and the Middle East.
Asking for the KFAED’s assistance in finance, technology, human resources training, and management science, the PM hopes both sides can set up a joint working group to introduce potentials, needs, processes, and procedures in a harmonised and simplified way, develop collaborative and investment projects, and implement them step by step.
Vietnam is ready to serve as a bridge for the KFAED to access ASEAN markets and neighbouring countries, he affirmed.
The KFAED Director General and his colleagues highly valued Vietnam’s recent socio-economic development, its investment and business environment, as well as the country’s strategies and steps for national development in the coming period.
Agreeing with the PM’s recommendation to establish a joint working group to promote cooperation and investment, KFAED leaders also suggested promoting public-private partnerships and new cooperation mechanisms and models.
The fund expressed interest in the programmes and projects of Vietnam’s priority fields, proposing the Vietnamese Government and PM to continue creating favourable conditions to promote cooperation through specific projects./.
