UAE believes in potentiality of growth of relations with Vietnam: Ambassador

UAE Ambassador to Vietnam, Bader Almatrooshi (Photo courtesy of the UAE Embassy in Vietnam)

In 2023, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties (August 1, 1993-2023) and officially start negotiations on the Vietnam-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

On the occasion, the UAE Ambassador to Vietnam, Bader Almatrooshi, grants an interview to the Vietnam News Agency on the development of bilateral ties over the past 30 years and prospects of the relations in the new period.

The following is the full text of the interview.

Question 1: The relationship between Vietnam and the UAE has been thriving with numerous positive results achieved over the past 30 years. Could you please share some outstanding cooperative achievements between the two countries?

Answer: I want to seize this opportunity to extend my sincere congratulations to the leaderships both in UAE and Vietnam on the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relations. It is definitely an important occasion as we are celebrating many achievements.

The UAE is the biggest trade partner to Vietnam in the Middle East with non-oil trade balance of 8.7 billion dollars recorded last year. In addition to that, both countries held the first round of negotiating the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement which makes the UAE the first Arab country to negotiate and hopefully sign this agreement soon. Another achievement is holding a business forum last month which was attended by 80 companies from both countries.

The relations were complemented this year by the visit of Her Excellency Vo Thi Anh Xuan, Vice President and meetings with His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE along with other officials from public and private sectors. Also three Ministers made official visits including the visit of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and His Excellency Dr. Thani AlZeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the UAE to Vietnam, and His Excellency Nguyen Hong Dien, Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam to the UAE.

Renewable energy is a potential cooperation area for Vietnam and the UAE (Photo: VNA)

The UAE believes in the potentiality of relations growth and one out of many steps being taken is the opening of a representative office of Dubai Chamber in HCM city on the 20th of July. Another important development is the growing partnership between Dubai based Passport Logistics Program and many Vietnamese entities and companies that aim at expanding and enhancing logistics experience worldwide.

Question 2: What are the promising areas of cooperation between the two countries and the plans to expand those areas in the time ahead?

Answer: There is definitely a vast space to expand trade exchange especially with the qualifications the two countries possess. The ongoing efforts by the two governments and private sector would contribute to increasing the numbers. In addition, many companies on different levels are exploring expanding their investments or starting new ones in the two countries which reflects the trust and commitment to the economic relations.

Energy in general and renewables in particular is one of the sectors that both countries believe in its importance. The UAE also gives a big attention to food security and ,therefore, a number of UAE leading companies in this field are exploring different options of collaboration. While UAE logistics companies do exist in Vietnam such as Emirates airlines and Dubai Ports World, there is a space to expand further especially knowing that logistics would contribute to the overall trade potentiality.

As the UAE prepares for the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), the participation of Vietnam will mark another important development in the relations as we expect high level and active private sector engagement.

Innovation and knowledge exchange is an important aspect that the two countries are taking steps to solidify. Furthermore, culture and people to people connection is of a high attention by the governments and, therefore, there are plans to host cultural activities in both countries./.