Vietnam begins high level engagement with UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia

Visit by the Vietnamese premier to the region comes following invitations by the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Prime Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jasim Al-Thani, and Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman.

These are the first official visits to the UAE and Qatar by a Vietnamese PM over the past 15 years, and the first-ever visit to Saudi Arabia since the two countries established diplomatic ties. This also marks the first time the premier has been invited as the chief guest and the only senior leader in Asia to speak at the FII.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are viewed as important, long-term and comprehensive partners in the Middle East for Vietnam in a variety of fields These three countries also regard Vietnam as a leading and important partner in Southeast Asia, and attach great importance to relations with Vietnam as part of a ‘Look East’ policy.
Recently, the relations between Vietnam and the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been growing rapidly and achieving many substantive results, with their increasingly closer coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums.

The UAE represents Vietnam’s largest export market in the Middle East and Africa, with last year’s two-way trade reaching US$4.7 billion. In the first seven months of this year alone, Vietnam’s exports to the UAE soared by 51 percent relative to the same period last year to reach US$3.37 billion. The two countries are also negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), with a view to finalizing the negotiations during the PM’s visit.

As of June 2024, the UAE had 41 projects valued at US$71.6 million in Vietnam, and there were roughly 3,000 Vietnamese workers in the UAE. The two countries share a common awareness of the importance of soon elevating bilateral relations to new heights, commensurate with the potential, economic scale and expectations of both sides.
Saudi Arabia is Vietnam’s third largest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa, with two-way trade standing at US$2.68 billion in 2023. Major economic groups from Saudi Arabia are increasingly showing an interest in Vietnam, and there are around 4,000 Vietnamese workers in the country.

Meanwhile, Qatar, with its strong potential in energy and finance, provides significant economic and investment opportunities to Vietnam. Two-way trade hit US$497.2 million in 2023, up 32 percent from previous year. The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has been actively studying and speeding up investment projects, particularly in the fields of real estate and industry in Vietnam. Notably progress has also been seen in education and labor cooperation.

Prime Minister Chinh’s visits are expected to provide fresh impetus for traditional cooperation areas, create new breakthroughs in promoting potential areas, and build a firm political trust to pave the way for a new phase of cooperation between Vietnam and the three countries as well as the whole region.

The visits are viewed as a practical step in carrying out the foreign policy adopted at Vietnam’s 13th National Party Congress, which includes the policy of multi-lateralization, diversification, proactive and active international integration. Priority in these policies is given to diversifying markets, partners, and supply chains as a way of continuing to consolidate the peaceful and cooperative environment, and maximizing the attraction of resources for national development.

During this visits, the Vietnamese premier will have talks and meetings with all the top leaders, and representatives from investment funds, and major corporations of the three countries in a bid to promote relations in a more comprehensive and effective manner, especially in areas such as market opening, labor, education, culture, sports, tourism, people-to-people exchanges, climate change response, and emerging fields like sci-tech, clean energy, digital transformation, innovation, and the Halal industry.
The premier will also deliver keynote speeches conveying Vietnam’s development orientations and foreign policy, not only toward the three countries but also toward the Middle East.

These activities are important for Vietnam and the three countries involved, to enhance mutual understanding, increase trust, strengthen cooperation, and more closely accompany each other in the development journey of each country, as well as in the effort to contribute to promoting peace, stability, and prosperous development in the region and the world.