CEPA Agreement: Leverage to promote Vietnam-UAE economy, trade

The formation of long-term cooperation frameworks such as Comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) between Vietnam and United Arab Emirates (UAE) will provide the necessary foundations for the two sides to promote future cooperation, a Vietnamese official has said.

Through the CEPA, the UAE can become a bridge between Vietnam and other countries in the region, stated Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien during talks with visiting UAE Minister of State for International Trade Affairs Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Hanoi on June 5.

Appreciating the importance of CEPA negotiations in promoting bilateral relations between the two countries in terms of economy, trade and investment, the official said Vietnam always considers the UAE one of its leading economic partners in the Middle East. He suggested that the two sides actively exchange to speed up CEPA negotiations.

To further promote bilateral economic, trade and energy cooperation, he called on the two sides to work closely to successfully organise the 5th meeting of the Vietnam - UAE Intergovernmental Committee, scheduled for this October.

The two countries should continue to exchange and complete internal procedures in accordance with regulations to negotiate and sign the agreement as soon as possible, Dien said.

He encouraged UAE businesses to consider investing in a number of fields in Vietnam such as renewable and clean energy; chemical industry; supporting industries and material production; building industrial parks in a number of potential economic regions of the country.

On this occasion, Minister Dien congratulated the UAE on being the host of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) and applauded its proposal to host the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference next year.

For his part, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi said that the UAE Government always considers Vietnam an important partner in the Asia-Pacific region and wishes to strengthen cooperation with the country in all fields.

The official expressed his delight at the positive developments in economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and the UAE over the past time.

According to statistics of the UAE, the import-export turnover between the two nations reached 8.7 billion USD, accounting for 39% of the total trade exchange between the UAE and Southeast Asian countries.

The UAE is currently an important transit market for goods from countries exporting to the UAE to re-exported to many countries in the Middle East, as well as other continents such as Europe and Africa, thus, creating favourable conditions for Vietnam's strong products such as farm produce, textiles and footwear to access many other markets, the official said.

He affirmed that he will continue to direct relevant units under the UAE Ministry of Economy to work closely with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and relevant agencies to solve the issues mentioned by the Vietnamese side.

Regarding the CEPA, he said that the UAE is ready to coordinate with the Vietnamese side to promote the negotiation process for the early signing of the deal./.