Qatar was mentioned worldwide when its capital, Doha, hosted the "Doha Round" of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1999 and recently hosted the 2022 World Cup.
During his official visit to Qatar, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed to the country's leaders that Vietnam can learn a lot from Qatar in terms of thinking, vision and measures to build and develop the country.
After just over an hour’s flight from the capital of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the plane carrying Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse, along with the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation, arrived at Doha International Airport to begin an official visit to Qatar.
Although Vietnam and Qatar are geographically distant, they have vibrant economic and trade exchanges and deep political trust. Currently, there is a direct flight between Vietnam and Qatar, facilitating exchanges between the two countries.
Qatar is promoting its economic diversification strategy, implementing the "National Vision 2030" policy, focusing on developing non-oil and gas economic sectors such as industry, services, high technology, healthcare, and education. Vietnam also has a similar strategy when actively transforming the economic structure, focusing on new growth drivers and emerging industries. With their characteristics, potentials and advantages, the two economies can complement each other effectively and sustainably.
Qatari leaders, from the Emir of Qatar, the Prime Minister to the Speaker of the Shura Council (Consultative Assembly), all welcomed Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh with sincerity, mutual trust and understanding. The Qatari leaders shared that the Arab people and nations, in general, and Qatar in particular, have a deep affection for Vietnam, admiring the glorious historical traditions of Vietnam in the past and the great development achievements of Vietnam today.
At the meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his impression of the Emir of Qatar's saying, "Vietnam - Qatar relations are limitless", demonstrating the Emir of Qatar's interest and affection for Vietnam as well as the relationship between the two countries.
Strongly affirming that Qatar is always open to cooperation activities with Vietnam, the Emir of Qatar suggested that the two sides seek common areas of cooperation to promote new, focused and key cooperation opportunities, especially in the fields of national strategic investment and large infrastructure construction projects.
Highly agreeing with these proposals, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked the Emir of Qatar to continue to pay attention to and support the promotion of Vietnam-Qatar relations, realising the determination and commitment of the leaders of both sides. This includes considering early negotiations and signing important documents, creating a solid legal framework for bilateral cooperation.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a very successful meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. The two leaders agreed to elevate bilateral relations to a new level, affirming that Vietnam and Qatar still have a lot of potential for investment cooperation to promote a trustworthy and extremely good political relationship.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasised that Vietnam always values “time” and “intelligence”, hoping that Qatari investment funds will further increase investment in Vietnam in the fields of strategic infrastructure, energy, seaports, agricultural and aquatic product production and processing, information technology, digital transformation, green transformation, sustainable development, climate change, and the Halal industry development.
The cooperation with Vietnam also received strong support from the Qatari Parliament. Speaker of the Shura Council (Consultative Assembly) Hassan bin Abdulla Al-Ghanim welcomed Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to the meeting.
He suggested that it is necessary to establish a Friendship Parliamentarians Association of the two countries to exchange regularly and propose measures to promote parliamentary cooperation. For his part, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested that the two countries' National Assemblies closely coordinate and support the effective implementation of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, promoting the upgrading of bilateral relations to a new level.
We were truly impressed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's meetings with ministers and leaders of Qatari organisations. Qatar is currently holding a "powerful card" in the race to convert to green, clean energy - liquefied natural gas (LNG), as it is the largest exporter of this type of energy, which the whole world is looking for.
Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs of Qatar and CEO of Qatar Energy, during the meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, said that he was very knowledgeable about Vietnam's energy needs in the current period. He suggested that, in terms of LNG business, Qatar has many years of experience and often cooperates with partners with a long-term vision (from 15-25 years), sharing that in the coming years, LNG will still be a clean energy that plays a key role in the energy transition of countries.
He also advised the Vietnamese Government to create appropriate policy mechanisms for the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) to cooperate smoothly with its Qatari partner in this field.
Agreeing with this opinion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that in the field of LNG business - energy that Vietnam needs very much for industrial development, it is necessary to have long-term, sustainable cooperation, ensuring the harmony of interests of all parties, hoping that Qatar will support Petrovietnam to produce gas-fired electricity without depending on other partners.
The Minister of State affirmed his full support for the Prime Minister's proposal on LNG cooperation between Vietnam and Qatar, saying that he would visit Vietnam to promote this cooperation agreement, combining tourism and enjoying the beautiful scenery of Vietnam.
During this visit, labour is also an area of great interest to the two countries. During the meeting with Qatari Minister of Labour Ali bin Saeed bin Samikh Al Marri, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam has strengths in its labour force and Qatar has great demand, so the two sides can cooperate and support in a more sustainable, stable and systematic way.
This is an issue that both sides need to pay attention to and promote cooperation in a deep, sustainable and long-term direction. Accordingly, it is necessary to complete the Labour Agreement and sign it at the right time.
The Qatari Labour Minister affirmed that his country has a great demand for foreign workers. Therefore, he is ready to promote cooperation and receive Vietnamese workers - an abundant, young and highly skilled workforce. In the next seven to eight years, Qatar will need multiple highly skilled workers in hotels, restaurants, healthcare, education, and transportation.
The Minister agreed with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the importance of building labour training centres in Vietnam before they work in Qatar. During the meeting with Qatari Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed Al Mannai, the Qatari side expressed its appreciation for the qualifications of Vietnam's IT and cybersecurity workforce and expressed its desire to cooperate in this field.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has proposed a formula for successful bilateral cooperation with Vietnamese human resources, Qatar's finances, good relations between the two countries, and Qatar's market. He said that the formula is available, but whether it is successful or not, whether it produces specific results and products or not depends on the "passion" and determination of the relevant ministers of the two countries.
The official visit to Qatar by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse, along with the high-ranking delegation from Vietnam, was a great success, an important milestone, creating momentum to promote the friendship and multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries to a new, deeper stage. At the same time, the success of the Middle East working trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia opened up a wide horizon of cooperation with this region full of resources and potential.
