A conference to boost Vietnam-Middle East- Africa Cooperation was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem in Hanoi on April 25.

A report presented by Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Dung at the conference stressed that Vietnam has established fine relations with countries in Africa and the Middle East over half a century. People in Africa and the Middle East always stand shoulder to shoulder and give each other support and assistance.

Vietnam has so far established diplomatic ties with all 16 countries in the Middle East and with 48 out of 54 countries in Africa and signed nearly 100 cooperation agreements at a Government level with 14 countries in the Middle East and 28 nations in Africa. In particular, Vietnam has participated in many multilateral forums such as Asia-Middle East Dialogue (AMED), New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) and Francophonie and made substantial contributions to promoting multi-faceted cooperation with regional countries.

Speaking at the conference, Mr Khiem called on ministries, sectors, localities and enterprises to raise awareness of the need to develop comprehensive cooperation with the Middle East and African regions.

The conference devised practical measures to implement a project to boost Vietnam-Middle East relations in 2007-2010 and a national action programme to promote co-operation between Vietnam and Africa in the second phase. These measures should focus on key fields such as trade exchanges, labour export, expert co-operation, foreign investment, and investing in regional countries. Mass implementation should be avoided.

The Middle East and Africa are huge regions with 70 countries and territories and a population of more than 1 billion. The regions are rich in natural resources, especially oil, gas and precious materials. It also plays a strategic geo-political role.

Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Africa increased from US$360 million in 2003 to US$918.6 million in 2005 and to US$1 billion in 2006. Trade value between Vietnam and Middle East also rose from US$138 million in 2001 to US$1 billion in 2006.

Participants at the conference focused on discussion of co-operation in fields of oil, gas, construction, medical, education and agricultural and forestry processing which are shared strengths.