Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh last week received Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi of the UAE, who came to Vietnam for the second time since early April to exclusively work on the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The Vietnamese leader called on the UAE to work closely with the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to soon finalise talks on the CEPA.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in a meeting in Hà Nội. VGP Photo

It is expected that the deal will be signed later in 2023, as both nations celebrate 30 years of bilateral diplomatic relations.

The negotiations were kicked off in early April, aimed by both countries to boost trade and investment partnership which “will bring economic and social benefits and improve the standard of living in both nations”.

Under a joint ministerial statement on the CEPA, the agreement “should be mutually beneficial and comprehensive, covering trade in goods and services, investment facilitation, other areas to be agreed upon, and cooperation in related matters, so as to serve the economic objectives set by the two parties of substantially increasing the volume of bilateral trade and investment”.

What is more, the CEPA “shall be ambitious while recognising specific interests, concerns, obligations, and sensitivities” each country may have.

“Vietnam is becoming a manufacturing hub for many types of important commodities in the region and the wider world. Meanwhile, the UAE has many strengths as a transshipment port and financial and logistics centre,” said MoIT Minister Nguyen Hong Dien. “Thus the CEPA will help enhance the combined strengths of the two sides and create a momentum for growth in their trade and investment ties.”

Zeyoudi said that the UAE wants to expand economic ties with Vietnam, which it regards as an important economic partner.

“The UAE is Vietnam’s top Arab trade partner, accounting for 39 per cent of its total trade with the Arab countries,” he said. “The CEPA will help enhance economic and trade ties in unprecedented ways while supporting the private sector’s access to both markets. It will also create new investment opportunities, which will result in a higher volume of trade exchanges.”

He added that many ministries and sectors in charge of areas such as energy, industry, and logistics services of the UAE are all supporting the negotiations, signing, and implementation of the CEPA.

“UAE businesses are also interested in this agreement because it will provide a new impetus for both nations’ economic cooperation and trade relationship based on mutual benefits,” Zeyoudi stressed.

PM Chinh underlined that Vietnam encourages enterprises and investment funds of the UAE to invest in the sectors that match both sides’ interest such as energy, renewable energy, climate change response, logistics, real estate, services, infrastructure, and building of innovation centres. Vietnam, in addition, also calls on the UAE to help it in developing verification centres, train manpower, and manufacture products in the Halal industry.

Under statistics from the UAE, the import-export turnover between the two nations reached $8.7 billion last year, accounting for 30 per cent of the total trade exchange between the UAE and Southeast Asian countries.

Meanwhile, accumulatively as of May 20, Vietnam had 37 valid projects in the Emirates registered at $71.4 million, Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment reported.

Last week, Vietnam and the UAE also agreed to study the possibility of investment and labour cooperation.

Over past years, Vietnam and the UAE have been boosting cooperation in oil and gas. Vietnam has suggested that both countries sign a new MoU on energy cooperation and create stronger conditions for UAE partners to soon work with Vietnam in the oil and gas sector. It is also suggested that both sides consider a possibility of constructing a centre for transporting and storing crude oil and petrochemical products in Vietnam, which will be provided for Asian markets.

It was also recommended that UAE oil and gas companies and PetroVietnam be facilitated to boost cooperation in investing in exploring and exploiting oil and gas in Vietnam, exchanging technical skills and expertise, and training high-quality human resources. In addition, both nations are also expected to increase cooperation in developing electricity transmission lines in Vietnam.

The UAE is among the world’s 10 largest oil producers. About 96 per cent of this country’s roughly 100 billion barrels of proven oil reserves are located in Abu Dhabi, ranking number six worldwide. The UAE produces an average of 3.2 million barrels of petroleum and liquids per day.