PM begins visit to Qatar, meets Qatar Investment Authority’s leader

The Vietnamese Government leader and his delegation were welcomed at the airport by Qatari Minister of State Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Sayed and Director of the Department of Protocol at the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ibrahim Yousuf Abdullah Fakhro, alongside Vietnamese Ambassador to Qatar Nguyen Huy Hiep, and Vietnamese community representatives .

Qatar is the final stop on PM Chinh’s trip to three Middle East nations. This marks the first official visit by a Vietnamese Prime Minister to Qatar in 15 years and comes at a time when the bilateral relations are flourishing, obtaining numerous tangible results. However, both sides have recognised that there remains huge potential to further foster bilateral cooperation, particularly in promising areas such as politics-diplomacy, economy, energy, tourism, and labour.

The visit is designed to promote the relationship in a more comprehensive and effective manner, particularly in market opening, high-quality investment attraction, and cooperation in labour, education, culture, sports, tourism, people-to-people exchange, and climate change response, as well as emerging fields like science -technology, clean energy, digital transformation, innovation, and the Halal industry.

Last year, two-way trade posted a year-on-year rise of 32% to US$497.2 million. Vietnam’s main imports included gas, plastics, and chemicals, while its key exports were aquatic products, electrical wires and cables, wooden and bamboo products.

Immediately after his arrival in the capital Doha for an official visit to the Middle East nation, PM Chinh received Governor of Qatar Central Bank (QCB) and Chairman of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani. 

QIA is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar. As of late 2023, QIA had an estimated asset value of approximately US$475 billion.

In Vietnam, the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) and QIA have twice signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to enhance information exchange and seek measures to promote cooperation and investment opportunities, especially investment in Vietnam.

Based on the MoUs, SCIC and QIA have established a joint committee between the two agencies. Currently, SCIC and QIA have discussed and agreed to sign an MoU to establish a joint investment fund with QIA.

At the reception, PM noted his appreciation for the effectiveness of QIA's activities, its contributions to the economic development and investment of Qatar and the Middle East as well as the cooperation between QIA and SCIC.

According to the Vietnamese Government leader, the relationship between Vietnam and Qatar is growing steadily, with mutual trust and great potential for rapidly developing economic cooperation, which serves as a solid foundation for businesses of the two countries to expand cooperation. However, investment cooperation between the two countries is still modest, Chinh added.

He suggested that QIA consider boosting investment in Vietnam, focusing on strategic infrastructure projects (hard and soft infrastructure, such as transport infrastructure, including highways, high-speed railways, urban railways, subways, seaports, transit airports, telecommunications infrastructure, climate change response infrastructure, digital transformation, social infrastructure, healthcare, education); wind power projects, solar power projects, power storage systems, and power transmission.

The PM affirmed that the Vietnamese Government ensures the legitimate rights and interests of investors.

For his part, Sheikh Bandar Al Thani said that QIA is ready to expand investment in Vietnam in the coming time and will send a working delegation to the nation to promote specific projects, especially in the field mentioned by PM Chinh.

He also hailed the sound political relations between the two, saying that Vietnam is an emerging market with many investment opportunities, while QIA's strategy is to increase investment in the Far East and East Asia, choosing places where long-term investment is possible.