President meets ambassadors of Kuwait, Israel

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc received in Hanoi on August 10 Ambassador of Kuwait Yousef Ashour Al-sabbagh and Ambassador of Israel Yaron Mayer, who came to present their credentials.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Ambassador of Israel Yaron Mayer

At his meeting with Ambassador Al-sabbagh, President Phuc affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to enhance the traditional friendship with Kuwait, one of the leading economic partners of Vietnam in the Middle East.

Mentioning trade between the two countries, which was valued at about 4.8 billion USD last year, up 48% year-on-year, the President suggested Kuwait facilitate the penetration of Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural products, seafood, garments-textiles, wood products and components, into Kuwait and other Gulf countries.

He also called on the Kuwait side to coordinate with Vietnamese partners and enterprises in trade promotion, and to seek suitable solutions for the Nghi Son Oil Refinery.

Lauding the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development that has provided preferential loans for mountainous and disadvantaged provinces of Vietnam over the past nearly four decades, the leader urged the fund to speed up the preparation and signing of loan agreements for projects.

He also suggested Kuwait pay attention to protecting legitimate rights and interests of Vietnamese labourers, saying the two sides should sign an agreement on labour cooperation to create a legal corridor for the bilateral collaboration in this regard soon.

 In reply, Al-sabbagh emphasised that Kuwait backs Vietnam at international forums and organisations, saying Kuwait supported the Southeast Asian nation’s non-permanent membership at the UN Security Council for 2020-2021, granted scholarships to Vietnamese students, assisted Vietnam in socio-economic development, especially rural and disadvantaged areas, and created conditions for Vietnamese citizens to return home safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ambassador pledged to make every effort to strengthen the bilateral ties in different spheres.

Meeting with Ambassador Mayer, the President affirmed the importance Vietnam attaches to cooperation with Israel, particularly in economy, science-technology, innovative startup, labour and tourism, adding that many Vietnamese research and startup delegations visited Israel to learn from the country’s experience.

He suggested Vietnam and Israel soon resume the exchange of delegations and cooperation mechanisms, especially the third meeting of the joint-governmental committee.

The two countries should intensify their coordination and mutual support at international forums and organisations, and organise many practical activities marking the 30th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties (1993-2023), he said.

Trade between Vietnam and Israel reached 2 billion USD in 2021, a year-on-year rise of 20%, the leader said, urging the ambassador to make active contributions in order to raise the bilateral trade revenue to 10 billion USD.

Phuc also suggested the two countries step up trade, investment and tourism promotion activities in-person as the pandemic has been initially brought under control, while accelerating the negotiations and signing of a bilateral free trade agreement and another on labour cooperation.

Collaboration in other fields like science-technology, personnel training and national defence should also be enhanced, he continued.

For his part, the ambassador noted that education would be an effective bridge between people of the two countries as thousands of Vietnamese students are studying in Israel.

He said stronger tourism cooperation will facilitate the traveling of Israel people to Vietnam and vice versa.

The diplomat promised to try his best to foster cooperation between Vietnam and Israel./.

VNA