Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn and his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani sign the agreement yesterday. Photo baoquocte.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam and Qatar yesterday signed an agreement on visa exemption for their diplomatic and official passport holders.

The agreement was signed during talks yesterday between Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn and his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani during the latter’s visit to Việt Nam.

Minister Sơn emphasised that the visit, the first of its kind by the Qatari minister, is an important milestone in the bilateral relations between the two countries, especially as the two have recently successfully organised the second political consultation between the two foreign ministries and will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2023.

The two ministers highlighted the need to coordinate to organise activities to celebrate the 30th anniversary, with the focus given to strengthening delegation exchanges and culture-sports events.

They also stressed the importance of cooperating and supporting each other at multilateral forums and regional and international organisations like ASEAN and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

In economic terms, the two sides agreed to further bolster trade and investment activities while enhancing the effectiveness of cooperation between management agencies and investment funds of each side including the Qatar Investment Authority and Việt Nam’s State Capital Investment Corporation.

The Vietnamese minister said that Việt Nam will create favourable conditions for Qatar’s businesses and investment funds to research the market and invest in the country.

With regards to tourism, he expressed the hope to welcome more Qatari tourists to Việt Nam as his country is recovering rapidly from the pandemic.

The minister suggested the two sides discuss measures to expand cooperation in different fields and accelerate the negotiations and signing of a bilateral cooperation agreement.

The top Qatari diplomat said he highly valued the socio-economic achievements of Việt Nam, affirming that the country is Qatar’s priority partner in Asia-Pacific and an attractive destination for Qatari investors.

He noted that he agreed with Minister Sơn’s recommendations and suggested the two sides continue to share more information about investment projects and opportunities.

He said the two countries should expand cooperation in areas such as green economy, renewable energy, science technology and agriculture.

Meeting with PM

During talks with Qatar’s foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on the same day, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính suggested the two countries create favourable conditions for their products to enter each other's markets, noting that Qatar should help Việt Nam develop the Halal industry here.

He also requested the two sides soon organise the third meeting of the Việt Nam-Qatar Inter-Governmental Committee to discuss measures to expand cooperation in areas such as infrastructure, petroleum, renewable energy, green technology, digital transformation, and agriculture.

He said Việt Nam is willing to create favourable conditions for Qatar’s investment funds and businesses to invest in the host country.

Qatar’s foreign minister Al-Thani said Qatar always attaches importance to relations with Việt Nam and considered the country a window to enter the ASEAN market.

He agreed that the two countries have great potential to further accelerate their cooperation in many areas especially trade, investment, energy and tourism.

He also agreed with the cooperation direction suggested by PM Chính, affirming that the two sides will closely cooperate with each other to implement the plans. VNS