Vietnam ready to foster ASEAN – Gulf Cooperation Council cooperation, says PM

Vietnam stays ready to serve as a bridge to enhance cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told GCC Secretary General Jassim Muhammad Al-Budaiwi in Riyadh on October 19.

GCC Secretary General Jassim Muhammad Al-Budaiwi welcoms Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to Riyadh for the first ASEAN-GCC Summit. (Photo: VGP)

At the meeting, Chinh, who is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the first ASEAN-GCC Summit, highly appreciated GCC’s role and affirmed Vietnam attaches importance to further promoting mutually beneficial cooperation with GCC and its member countries.

He noted the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam and the GCC Secretariat in Riyadh this time would mark a milestone in the relationship between Vietnam and GCC, and open a new potential channel of cooperation between the two sides.

He requested that the two sides soon outline a specific cooperation programme to effectively implement the signed document.

GCC Secretary General Jassim Muhammad Al-Budaiwi highly valued Vietnam’s increasing role, as well as the achievements the country has recorded over the years.

He said all six GCC member countries have developed good relations with Vietnam and the two sides still have a lot of potential for cooperation.

The GCC Secretariat will actively support Vietnam in promoting cooperation with its member countries in the areas where both sides have strengths, he assured Chinh.

With regard to ASEAN-GCC cooperation, the Secretary General said that the two sides would definitely write a success story because they are both stable, dynamic, peace-loving regions and they are making efforts to promote cooperation in the interest of their peoples.

The two leaders discuss ways to foster cooperation between Vietnam and GCC, as well as between ASEAN and GCC during their meeting in Riyadh on October 19. (Photo: VGP)

On this occasion, PM Chinh respectfully invited the GCC Secretary General to visit Vietnam again as soon as possible to promote cooperation. the invitation was accepted with pleasure.

ASEAN and GCC stablished relations in 1990 and adopted the Joint Vision in 2009.  This is the first ever summit to be held between the two sides which is expected to adopt a strategic cooperation plan with goals to be achieved in the coming two or four years.

Relations between Vietnam and six GCC member states (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman) have developed very positively. Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and these countries reached US$12.5 billion last year. GCC states have so far poured approximately US$1 billion into Vietnam.

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