Vietnam and UAE to soon complete CEPA negotiations

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made the request while receiving Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade at a reception in Hanoi on June 5.

He said the two sides should also work towards negotiating an agreement on investment and an agreement on labour cooperation, while further raising bilateral trade in a more balanced direction. Last year saw two-way trade turnover between the two countries hit US$4.4 billion.

To this end, he suggested the two sides actively coordinate to organize the fifth meeting of their Intergovernmental Committee in 2023. He also asked the UAE to actively support Vietnam in establishing cooperation mechanisms on certification, building inspection centers, training human resources, and investing in Halal food production.

Vietnam encourages UAE businesses and funds to invest in the fields of mutual interest, such as energy, renewable energy, logistics, real estate, services, infrastructure, development of innovation centers, digital transformation, green economy, circular economy, climate change response, Halal food, human resource training, and labour cooperation, as well as facilitating cooperation between petroleum and gas businesses of the two countries.

Chinh highly valued the UAE’s economic restructuring model from the oil and gas sector to the development of services and investment funds, saying Vietnam wants to learn from the UAE’s experience in this field.

Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi for his part affirmed that Vietnam is an important partner for the UAE in the region.

He expressed his impression of Vietnam’s socio-economic development achievements and especially international trade that accounts for 30% of the UAE’s total trade turnover with Southeast Asia.

He highly appreciated Vietnam’s investment environment and affirmed the UAE’s desire to enhance cooperation with Vietnam in trade and investment, especially in the fields of energy, renewable energy, efficient use of water, logistics, seaports, and health care. At the same time, he said the UAE wants to receive more high-quality workers from Vietnam.

The UAE Minister of State assured his host that the two sides would speed up negotiations of their comprehensive economic partnership agreement.

The Vietnamese PM took the occasion to convey State President’s invitation to visit Vietnam to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He also conveyed his invitation to UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time.