Vietnam wanted to boost bilateral cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to ensure energy and food security, based on the countries’ combined strengths in finance, oil and gas agriculture and abundant human resources.

State President Nguyen Minh Triet made this statement at the reception for Saeed Al Ghurair, General Director of Al Ghurair Commodities LLC company, in Hanoi on July 18.

Triet said Vietnam always welcomed foreign investment in all economic fields, adding that that the two sides could expand cooperation through foreign direct investment or joint ventures in the fields of finance, banking, urban infrastructure, healthcare, education and culture.

He also called on UAE and Vietnamese businesses to maximise their strengths to bring benefits for the two peoples.

Saeed Al Ghurair affirmed that Al Ghurair Commodities LLC company would do its utmost to contribute to joint efforts in encouraging more UAE investors to come to Vietnam .

He said that energy and agriculture were extremely important fields to all countries worldwide, and that they were fields in which UAE businesses wished to cooperate with Vietnam , since the UAE considered Vietnam to have potential to play an increasingly important role in global energy markets.

In the short term, Al Ghurair Commodities LLC company planned to open a representative company in Vietnam and build a petroleum and gas base depot capable of storing 1.5-2 million tonnes, to serve as reserves for Vietnam and to supply neighbouring countries./.