UAE Ambassador to Việt Nam Bader Almatrooshi. — Photo courtesy of the UAE Embassy in Vietnam

On the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Việt Nam-United Arab Emirates (UAE) diplomatic ties (August 1, 1993-2023) and the official start of negotiations on the Việt Nam-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), UAE Ambassador to Việt Nam, Bader Almatrooshi, grants an interview to the Vietnam News Agency on the development of bilateral and prospects of the relations in the new period.

Could you please share some outstanding cooperative achievements between the two countries over the past three decades?

I want to seize this opportunity to extend my sincere congratulations to the leaderships both in UAE and Việt Nam on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations. It is definitely an important occasion as we are celebrating many achievements.

The UAE is the biggest trade partner to Việt Nam in the Middle East with non-oil trade balance of US$8.7 billion recorded last year. In addition to that, both countries held the first round of negotiating the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which makes the UAE the first Arab country to negotiate and hopefully sign this agreement soon. Another achievement is holding a business forum last month which was attended by 80 companies from both countries.

The relations were complemented this year by the visit of Vietnamese Vice President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân and meetings with His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE along with other officials from public and private sectors. Also three Ministers made official visits, including the visit of UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the UAE Thani Al Zeyoudi to Việt, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Hồng Diên to the UAE.

The UAE believes in the potentiality of relations growth and one out of many steps being taken is the opening of a representative office of Dubai Chamber in HCM city on the 20th of July. Another important development is the growing partnership between Dubai-based Passport Logistics Programme and many Vietnamese entities and companies that aim at expanding and enhancing logistics experience worldwide.

What are the promising areas of cooperation between the two countries and the plans to expand those areas?

There is definitely a vast space to expand trade exchange, especially with the qualifications the two countries possess. The ongoing efforts by the two governments and the private sector would contribute to increasing the numbers. In addition, many companies on different levels are exploring expanding their investments or starting new ones in the two countries, which reflects the trust and commitment to economic relations.

Energy in general and renewables, in particular, is one of the sectors that both countries believe important. The UAE also gives a big attention to food security and, therefore, a number of leading UAE companies in this field are exploring different options for collaboration. While UAE logistics companies do exist in Việt Nam, such as Emirates Airlines and Dubai Ports World, there is a space to expand further especially knowing that logistics would contribute to the overall trade potentiality.

As the UAE prepares for the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), the participation of Việt Nam will mark another important development in the relations as we expect high level and active private sector engagement.

Innovation and knowledge exchange is an important aspect that the two countries are taking steps to solidify. Furthermore, culture and people to people connection is of high attention by the governments and, therefore, there are plans to host cultural activities in both countries. — VNS