Chief legislator hosts Algeria-Vietnam intergovernmental committee leader
VOV.VN - National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue on October 18 received Algerian Minister of Industry and Pharmaceutical Production Ali Aoun who is also chairman of the Algeria-Vietnam inter-government committee.
Hue welcomed Aoun’s Vietnam visit during which the Algerian minister co-chaired the 12th meeting of the Vietnam – Algeria intergovernmental committee alongside Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi, in Hanoi on October 16.
He thanked Algeria for supporting Vietnam in the past and at present, and expected that the African nation would create more favourable conditions for Vietnamese expatriates to closely integrate into their host community, making a practical contribution to Algeria and to the long-standing friendship between the two countries.
The chief legislator pointed out that despite their fine relationship over the past 61 years, two-way trade turnover between the two countries remains modest, at approximately US$200 million last year that is not on a par with their political-diplomatic ties as well as cooperation potential.
Vietnam is ready to act as a bridge connecting Algeria with the Southeast Asian market, said Hue while proposing that Algeria serve as a gateway for Vietnam to penetrate the African market - a region with great potential and high demand for both goods and services.
Minister Aoun for his part echoed Hue’s proposals and expected that Vietnam and Algeria would soon sign a cooperation agreement in the field of industry and trade. He noted that as both economies have many products that are highly complementary to each other, it is necessary to increase business connections to promote economic, trade and investment cooperation.
On this occasion, Hue highly appreciated the success of the oil and gas joint venture between the two countries, and requested that Algeria continue to support the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) in expanding investment in the country.
In reply, Aoun said as Algeria is developing not only the oil and gas exploitation industry, but also the petrochemical industry, it always supports PVN’s operation expansion in the country.
He hailed Vietnam’s strengths in producing medicinal herbs, and suggested that the two countries ramp up cooperation in the field of the pharmaceutical industry, especially the production of medicinal herbs, because Algeria currently has about 24,000 plant species that can extract active ingredients to make medicine.
