In the minds of many, the Arabian land is only filled with sun, wind, golden sand and legendary stories in the vast desert. But today, the countries in the Middle East are likened to a splendid dream, created by the very "miracles in the desert".

Arriving in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on a day at the end of October, we clearly felt the development of a leading financial and commercial center in the Middle East, which is also the second largest economy in the Gulf region.

The UAE is also the first stop on Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s journey to visit three Middle Eastern countries. It is here that historical milestones were established – the beginning of the exploration of the Middle Eastern market with great potential but which has long been “dormant”.

On the morning of October 28, the capital Abu Dhabi resounded with 21 cannon salutes to welcome Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on his official visit to the UAE.

During a closed-door meeting between the head of the Vietnamese Government and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the two sides agreed to upgrade bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Partnership, marking the UAE becoming Vietnam's first Comprehensive Partner in the Middle East.

Praising the beautiful and hospitable UAE, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his admiration for the achievements of a leading economic, financial and technological center in the region like the UAE. The head of the Vietnamese Government called it a “miracle in the desert” in the Middle East.

The UAE President affirmed that Vietnam is an important partner of his country in Asia and cooperation with Vietnam is one of the UAE's main concerns.

The talks between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on the same day also marked another historic milestone, as the two leaders witnessed the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) – Vietnam’s first free trade agreement with an Arab country.

This is the free trade agreement with the fastest negotiation time in Vietnam, demonstrating the high determination of the leaders as well as ministries and branches of the two countries, aiming to create a breakthrough in economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.

This, according to the Prime Minister, is one of two highlights of the visit, besides upgrading the Vietnam-UAE bilateral relationship to Comprehensive Partnership.

The two leaders witnessed the signing ceremony of the CEPA Agreement, Vietnam's first free trade agreement with an Arab country (Photo: Doan Bac).

The historic and lightning-fast CEPA Agreement is expected to create a breakthrough in economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, opening a major path for Vietnam to penetrate deeper into the Middle East - Africa market.

Sharing about the journey to the signing step, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said that this idea originated in 2022. On June 20, 2023, the Government officially decided to launch CEPA negotiations in the context of increasingly good bilateral relations between Vietnam and the UAE, especially in the economic and trade fields.

Since its inception, the two sides have gone through many negotiation sessions on important issues, with the spirit of ensuring a balance of interests for both sides.

“From the start of negotiations to the signing of the CEPA Agreement, it took us just over a year, much faster than previous FTAs. This can be considered a record,” Minister Dien emphasized.

Not missing the opportunity and the efforts of both sides, the negotiation rounds have borne “sweet fruit” when the Vietnam – UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was officially signed, creating a breakthrough in the economic, trade and investment relations between the two countries.

As soon as this historic Agreement comes into effect, the UAE commits to eliminating tariffs on many key and potential export industries of Vietnam, creating a favorable basis for promoting Vietnam's exports to the UAE market and Middle Eastern countries.

According to Minister Dien, the UAE will open its doors to almost all Vietnamese products with export advantages such as agricultural products, seafood, consumer goods (including textiles, footwear, electronics)...

“CEPA not only creates a breakthrough in economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and the UAE, but is also a driving force to attract strong investment from the UAE to Vietnam in areas such as energy, industry, high technology, and supply chain development,” Minister Dien emphasized.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared with the UAE Vice President and Prime Minister about Vietnam's important achievements (Photo: Doan Bac).

According to Minister Dien, the signing of CEPA with the UAE is also an important lever for Vietnam to take advantage of trade and investment opportunities in the Middle East - a region with many dynamic economies but not yet exploited by Vietnamese enterprises in the previous period.

The main road has opened. Export activities to the UAE and the Middle East have expanded significantly. Therefore, according to the Minister, businesses need to make the most of the opportunities brought by this historic agreement.

During talks and meetings with senior leaders of the UAE, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that Vietnam attaches importance to expanding investment cooperation with the Middle East region, of which the UAE is one of the top focuses.

One of the key issues raised by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during his meetings and discussions in the UAE was the construction of an international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends a business seminar in Dubai (Photo: Doan Bac).

He suggested that the UAE, with experience from the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Financial Centers, will support Vietnam in forming a suitable policy framework and development model; and participate in building, investing in and developing a financial center in Vietnam.

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan affirmed that he will directly direct the implementation of a number of specific projects, including supporting Vietnam in building a financial center in Ho Chi Minh City.

UAE Minister of Investment Mohammed Bin Hassan Al Suwaidi also pledged that the UAE will share experiences and support Vietnam in building financial centers in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, and affirmed that it will research and guide UAE corporations to invest in strategic projects in Vietnam, creating effects for the entire economy.

Accompanying Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on this trip, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Vo Van Hoan assessed that this is a strong commitment of the UAE and Vietnamese Governments, and is also an important result of the negotiation process with the neighboring country and has been stated in the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries (CEPA Agreement).

"If this commitment is implemented soon, it will contribute to the whole country's successful implementation of the strategy of reaching out to the world," Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Vo Van Hoan told Dan Tri reporter.

To realize this goal, Mr. Hoan said that Ho Chi Minh City will immediately develop a plan in coordination with the Ministry of Planning and Investment for implementation.

In the immediate future, Mr. Hoan said he will organize activities to exchange and share experiences in investing, building, managing and operating financial centers.

UAE pledges to support the construction of a financial center in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Hoang Giam).

The city will also coordinate with UAE agencies in training and preparing human resources for the operation of the financial center, including administrative and professional human resources in finance, banking, Fintech, etc.

In addition, according to Mr. Hoan, Ho Chi Minh City will coordinate with the UAE in providing comments on the development of a legal policy framework related to the operation of the financial center, ensuring that when it is established, there will be outstanding preferential policies, so that the center can quickly attract financial investors and large investment funds in the world to shift capital flows here.

“We must find a way for the center to quickly make a breakthrough in the context that we were formed later and face fierce competition with other financial centers in the region and the world,” Mr. Hoan emphasized.

According to the leader of Ho Chi Minh City, this locality will coordinate with the UAE to introduce the project and the investment environment of Vietnam as well as Ho Chi Minh City, with the hope that the UAE will choose a potential investor with strengths in capital, technology and experience in direct investment in this project.

Cooperation in human resource and labor training between Vietnam and the Middle Eastern powers is also one of the important contents during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working trip.

Accompanying the Prime Minister, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung took advantage of the time to have a bilateral meeting with his counterpart – UAE Minister of Human Resources Abdulrahman Abdulmannan Al-Awar – to promote this content.

Minister Dao Ngoc Dung said that Vietnam's human resources have many potentials and outstanding advantages.

Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani (Photo: Duc Thuan).

Stating the requirements on salary and working conditions that businesses need to meet, the Minister suggested that the UAE review and adjust policies to minimize procedures and create the most favorable conditions for Vietnamese workers when working in this country.

Appreciating the achievements in labor cooperation, the two Ministers said that the number of Vietnamese workers working in the UAE is still limited, although the UAE has a need to receive a large number of foreign workers, while Vietnam has abundant human resources.

Minister Abdulrahman Abdulmannan Al-Awar said he is ready to adjust salary, bonus, benefits, and employee care policies to effectively attract Vietnamese workers to work in the UAE.

In the Joint Statement between Vietnam and the UAE on upgrading the bilateral relationship to Comprehensive Partnership, the content of human resource cooperation was also emphasized.

At the Vietnam - UAE Business Dialogue Forum, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung stated that the UAE is a potential market where workers can seize opportunities to work, study, acquire highly specialized skills and knowledge to improve and develop themselves, and earn high incomes in the future.

Stating that Vietnam currently has a population of 100 million people and is in the golden population stage with a workforce of about 54 million people, Minister Dung emphasized that if this factor is taken advantage of, it will create conditions to help the country develop.

In terms of State management, the Minister pledged to UAE businesses to create maximum conditions.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, when receiving Qatari Minister of Labor Ali bin Saeed bin Samikh Al Marri during his official visit to Qatar, also emphasized that labor cooperation is an important content agreed upon by senior leaders of the two countries.

“The two sides need to promote labor cooperation in depth, stability, sustainability and long-term,” the Prime Minister noted, noting that it is necessary to soon complete procedures to sign a memorandum of understanding between the two ministries of the two countries on the field of labor at an appropriate time.

He also proposed that Qatar support Vietnam in building a labor training center to improve vocational skills, provide cultural, language, and legal training, and facilitate workers to work in Qatar, especially high-quality workers.

“Vietnam is a country with 100 million people, in the golden population stage with many young and highly skilled workers. Qatar has a huge demand for foreign workers. In the next 7-8 years, Qatar will need a lot of workers in fields such as hotels, restaurants, healthcare, education, science and technology, oil and gas, industry, transportation…”, said the Qatari Minister of Labor.

Minister Ali bin Saeed bin Samikh Al Marri promised the Prime Minister to soon speed up negotiations to sign a new cooperation agreement on labor and take responsibility if the number of Vietnamese workers in Qatar does not exceed 1,000 in the future.

Immediately after the meeting with the Prime Minister, Minister Ali bin Saeed bin Samikh Al Marri and Minister Dao Ngoc Dung quickly shared about the implementation plan of the tasks assigned by the Prime Minister.

Saudi Arabia – the Prime Minister's second trip in a three-country Middle Eastern tour – is the largest economy in the Gulf region and one of Vietnam's leading economic partners in the Middle East.

With its main resource being oil, Saudi Arabia is the world's leading oil exporter. Among them, the oil giant Saudi Aramco is considered one of the largest enterprises in terms of scale and revenue in the world, with 2023 revenue reaching nearly 500 billion USD and total assets reaching over 660 billion USD.

An important commitment was also made during a meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Chairman and CEO of Saudi Aramco Amin Al-Nasser in the capital Riyadh.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Mr. Amin Al-Nasser, Chairman and CEO of Saudi Arabian Oil Corporation (Photo: Doan Bac).

Considering Vietnam as a potential and important market in Southeast Asia, Aramco Group's leaders wish to invest in petrochemical refining and petroleum distribution in Vietnam.

Appreciating Saudi Aramco Group's interest and plans to cooperate and invest in Vietnam, specifically with the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN), initially in the field of oil and gas trade, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that he will create all conditions to promote cooperation.

The Prime Minister said that Vietnam has a coastline of more than 3,000 km and is in a favorable position to access the large market in Asia. Vietnam has potential and is developing the oil and gas industry in terms of exploitation, refining and trading of oil and gas.

Meanwhile, Vietnam's PVN Group has a lot of experience and a large, high-quality workforce. This will be a potential partner for cooperation.

The Chairman of Saudi Aramco affirmed that he will continue to actively negotiate with PVN and soon send a working delegation to Vietnam to conduct cooperation and investment, through specific projects as suggested by the Prime Minister.

Immediately after the meeting, under the witness of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, PVN and Saudi Aramco signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of oil and gas trade.

During his visit to Qatar, the Prime Minister also asked Qatar Energy to strengthen cooperation with the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group to implement major projects to enhance Vietnam's self-reliance in the field of gas-fired power generation; and urged the Abu Dhabi National Oil and Gas Group to build a transit and storage center for crude oil and petrochemical products in Vietnam for export to regional markets.

Sharing more with reporters during the trip accompanying Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, General Director of Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group Le Ngoc Son said that signing cooperation agreements with large corporations such as Saudi Aramco is not easy.

Therefore, the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of oil and gas trade between PVN and Saudi Aramco this time is a very important success.

According to Mr. Son, during the Prime Minister's visit, PVN also worked and discussed with the Minister of State in charge of energy issues of Qatar and CEO of QatarEnergy Company about the potential cooperation between the two sides, to reach specific agreements.

Looking back at the cooperation process, Mr. Son said that the Group and its oil and gas partners in the Middle East have cooperated for many years, mainly in the fields of service provision and trade exchange. In particular, PVN provides drilling rig manufacturing services in Qatar, other oil and gas services, while the other side provides products such as LNG, LPG, sulfur, crude oil, etc. with contracts worth up to billions of USD.

However, according to Mr. Son, the Prime Minister's working trip to the Middle East countries this time has opened up many new opportunities for PVN to promote its own strengths, effectively exploit the strengths of Middle Eastern oil investors, and help Vietnam have more capital and technology to realize projects such as gas-fired power and renewable energy, contributing to ensuring energy security and electricity supply.

In addition, PVN leaders said that some cooperation exchanges and investment attraction in renewable energy with Arab corporations and investment funds worth hundreds of billions of USD will help Vietnam grow rapidly and open up many new opportunities, realizing the set goals.

During meetings and contacts with Arab leaders or large corporations and investment funds here, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh repeatedly made strong commitments to institutional reform, specifically amending problems related to the Electricity Law to help Vietnam's energy sector connect more openly with the Middle East region.

That is also a strong motivation to help Arab investors have more confidence when deciding to invest in Vietnam.

“Racing” and “blood and fire” are the spirits that the head of the Vietnamese Government has repeatedly mentioned in his meetings with partners in three Middle Eastern countries.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's encouragement has strongly motivated Saudi Arabia's Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef during a meeting in the capital Riyadh.

According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, leaders of Vietnam and Middle Eastern countries share the same vision, the same mindset, and value time and intelligence.

“The leaders of the two countries share an innovative mindset, long-term vision, and the desire to develop the country quickly and sustainably. The leaders of the two countries also pay great attention to devoting time and intelligence to developing the country,” the Prime Minister shared.

He suggested that Minister Bandar Alkhorayef cooperate with Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien to connect the two economies more closely, promoting two-way trade to reach 10 billion USD in the coming time.

“Minister, please race with Minister Dien to see who can run faster. The Crown Prince and I will be the referees and spectators of this race,” the Prime Minister encouraged.

Mr. Bandar Alkhorayef pledged to work with Vietnamese ministries and sectors to soon deploy and promote cooperation and determined to "run a marathon" as the Prime Minister's message.

The spirit of cooperation was also spread by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh when discussing and exchanging with Qatari Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed Al Mannai in Doha (Qatar).

Regarding the plan to establish a Vietnam Digital Technology Enterprise Center in Qatar to connect with the Middle East market, the Prime Minister hoped for enthusiasm from the Ministers of Information and Communications of the two countries.

“Whatever we do, we must be passionate and determined to the end. We cannot just talk and then leave it at that,” the Prime Minister said. Both sides need to take advantage of time and intelligence, because time waits for no one, and to do great things, intelligence must go beyond one’s own limits.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Qatari Minister of Labor Ali bin Saeed bin Samikh Al Marri (Photo: Doan Bac).

The head of the Government believes that Vietnam should learn from Qatar because they dare to take risks and overcome themselves to achieve the results they have today.

Noting that “wasting time is the biggest waste in life”, the Prime Minister suggested that cooperation should be implemented as soon as possible. In this spirit, the two countries’ ministers also pledged not to miss the opportunity and there was no reason for delay.

It can be said that the special mark of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visit to the three Middle Eastern countries this time is to promote economic, trade and investment cooperation with all three countries in particular and the Gulf and Middle East regions in general. This is a step to open up the Middle Eastern market – a place with a lot of potential but Vietnam has not had many conditions to exploit.

During the talks and meetings with senior leaders of the three countries, contacts and meetings with leaders of large corporations and investment funds, as well as when speaking at the 8th Future Investment Initiative Conference (FII8 Conference), the Prime Minister sent a message about a renewed, dynamic Vietnam ready to enter a new era - the era of national growth, through expanding connections and cooperation with countries to promote investment.

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/cuoc-dua-marathon-buoc-chan-mo-duong-va-dau-an-lich-su-tren-dat-a-rap-20241102180721984.htm