Vietnam is willing to act as a bridge to promote cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – the world’s two dynamic regions – for peace, stability, and development in the region and the entire world.  

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Secretary General Jassim Muhammad Al-Budaiwi of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh on Oct 19. Photos: VGP

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told the GCC’s Secretary General Jassim Muhammad Al-Budaiwi when he visited the GCC headquarters in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on October 19.

Chinh said Vietnam highly values the role of the GCC and reiterated Vietnam’s efforts to strengthen the cooperation with the GCC and its members, which include Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Specifically, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the GCC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation during the visit.

The MoU signing opens a new potential channel for cooperation, a milestone in the relationship between Vietnam and the GCC.

The Prime Minister asked for an early agreement on concrete cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam and the GCC Secretariat in order to successfully put the signed MoU into place.

Secretary General Jassim Muhammad Al-Budaiwi highly appreciated Vietnam’s achievements over the past years and its position in regional agendas, expressing his delight at the visit by a Vietnamese prime minister to the GCC headquarters during its 42 years of operation.

He affirmed that all six Gulf nations maintain good relationships with Vietnam and there is still potential for cooperation. The GCC will work to boost the collaboration between the Gulf states and Vietnam as well as between the Arab states and Southeast Asian countries.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister invited Secretary General Jassim Muhammad Al-Budaiwi to visit Vietnam to discuss concrete cooperation measures. 

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal F. Alibrahim.

On the same day, Chinh met with Faisal F. Alibrahim, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning to discuss further partnership, mostly in trade and investment promotion with a focus on energy, finance-banking, digital transformation, and halal products.

The specific approach will be to share expertise, air connection, and people-to-people ties for further understanding each other's markets and opening their markets to each other’s products.

Faisal F. Alibrahim said the Saudi’s ministry will work with its partners to make both Saudi Arabia and Vietnam gateways to the Arab states and Southeast Asian countries.

He expected to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time to sign agreements with Vietnamese partners and hold meetings among joint committees for economic cooperation. 

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund – Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Chinh’s agenda included a meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund – Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).

PIF, with US$620 billion in assets, is one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds with an ever-growing portfolio of companies. Currently, this fund has poured $160 million into Vietnam through indirect investments.

Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan pledged to spend more resources on large infrastructure projects in Vietnam and expected the country to create favorable conditions for investment.

At the meeting, Chinh requested Vietnam and Saudi Arabia to set up a joint fund to execute investment projects in each country. This is a successful model between Vietnam and Oman and between Saudi Arabia and its partners.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).

In talks with Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), Chinh said the loan worth $165 million from SFD has helped Vietnam improve infrastructure and living standards for residents in remote areas.

The Prime Minister said infrastructure is one of the three key pillars in Vietnam’s development strategies along with regulatory framework and manpower. For this reason, the country has a huge demand for capital in infrastructure, especially in transport. It needs loans with simpler procedures and lower interests to serve projects in railways, urban transport, inter-regional expressways, digital transformation, sports, energy, and climate change response.

Accordingly, the two sides should set up working teams to cooperate on the implementation in the time to come, especially the commitments made by SFD president during his visit to Vietnam in September 2023 to attend the biggest-ever Vietnam-Saudi Arabia Business Forum.