Prime Minister meets Kuwaiti Crown Prince

The Crown Prince welcomed the Vietnamese leader's official visit to Kuwait ahead of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, affirming that the visit holds historic significance and opens a new phase of cooperation between the two countries.

Kuwait is proud to be the first country in the Gulf region to establish diplomatic ties with Viet Nam, he noted.

The host expressed his confidence that with the meeting between the Vietnamese Prime Minister and Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and the positive and effective outcomes of the talks between the two Prime Ministers, the two countries will further deepen their cooperative relations in the time to come.

Pham, for his part, reiterated that Viet Nam always expects to further strengthen practical and effective cooperation with Kuwait, an important partner of Viet Nam in the Middle East.

The Prime Minister expressed his delight with the development of economic–trade relations, with bilateral trade reaching over US$7 billion, adding that there are ample rooms for further cooperation.

The guest called on the Crown Prince to direct relevant agencies to foster stronger ties in the fields of economy–trade–investment, energy–oil and gas, defense–security, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, labor, and education–training.

The Prime Minister urged Kuwait to support the early negotiation on the Viet Nam–Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Free Trade Agreement and the launch of negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two nations.

Pham highlighted the need for a long-term framework agreement on strategic commodities to ensure Kuwait's food security, as well as launching projects to support the development of the Halal ecosystem in Viet Nam.

The Vietnamese leader proposed Kuwait's investment funds and enterprises step up their investments in Viet Nam's potential sectors, while creating favorable conditions for the operations of the Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Complex, a symbol of the strategic cooperation between the two countries.

The two leaders vowed to effectively promote existing cooperation mechanisms, including increasing all-level delegation exchanges and soon explore the possibility of opening a direct flight route between the two countries.

They pledged to work toward signing a visa exemption agreement for holders of ordinary passports to facilitate economic, trade, tourism cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

Both sides agreed that the two countries should continue to coordinate closely at multilateral forums and support each other in expanding Viet Nam's cooperative relations with the Gulf region and Kuwait's relations with ASEAN, for the goals of peace, cooperation, and sustainable development./.