Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính visited Kuwait’s Al-Zour Refinery. VNA/VNS Photo

KUWAIT CITY – Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Monday visited Kuwait’s Al-Zour Refinery, the second largest one in the Middle East, as part of his official visit to the Gulf country.

Construction for the complex started in 2017, and it began commercial operations in late 2022. The project has a total investment of approximately US$27 billion. The complex, managed and operated by the Kuwait National Petroleum Company, has a design capacity of producing 615,000 barrels per day, accounting for around 43.5 per cent of Kuwait’s domestic refining capacity.

In addition to fuel and petrochemicals production, the complex symbolises Kuwait’s strategic direction under the “Kuwait Vision 2035” programme, which aims to move from purely oil extraction to development of a domestic refining system, enhancing local value while adhering to advanced environmental standards.

The Al-Zour complex is designed to process various types of Kuwaiti crude, including Kuwait heavy crude (KHC). It primarily supplies clean fuel oil to power plants, with plans for a full conversion under consideration.

Earlier, during talks between PM Chính and Kuwaiti PM Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the two sides agreed to promote cooperation in the oil and gas sector, including the expansion of the Nghi Sơn Refinery project. Việt Nam expressed its readiness to provide oil and gas services and high-quality personnel for projects in Kuwait, and to extend collaboration to new projects, notably the construction of fuel storage and transshipment facilities in Việt Nam.

During his tour of the refinery, PM Chính called on the Kuwait National Petroleum Company to share its experience, technology, management expertise, and investment cooperation in Việt Nam’s oil and gas sector, including refining, storage and distribution. He highlighted potential collaboration on Việt Nam’s major refining projects and the development of trade in oil, gas and petrochemical products such as crude oil, liquefied petroleum gas, and other petroleum products.

On the afternoon of Sunday, PM Chính visited the Arab Heritage Building, where he held a working session with Director General Waleed AL-Bahar and colleagues from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED).

The PM highly appreciated the KFAED's effective support for Việt Nam, with concessional and non-refundable loans provided for 15 projects in various localities with a total value of over $183 million, contributing to the completion of essential infrastructure, social welfare, climate change mitigation, and improvement of people’s life quality, especially in remote areas.

He noted that during this visit to Kuwait, leaders of Việt Nam and Kuwait agreed to upgrade the countries' relationship to a strategic partnership, laying a solid foundation for deeper and more substantive bilateral cooperation in the coming period.

He suggested the KFAED continue supporting Việt Nam in areas such as social welfare, rural development, water supply, sanitation, health care, education, climate-resilient infrastructure, and disaster recovery.

Sharing Việt Nam’s two 100-year strategic goals, PM Chính emphasised that Việt Nam aims for fast yet sustainable development based on science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation, as well as a green economy, circular economy, sharing economy, and knowledge-based economy, including emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor, the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, biotechnology, and marine economy.

To facilitate development, Việt Nam is implementing three strategic breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure, and human resources with the approach of open institutional frameworks, seamless infrastructure, and smart human resources and governance. This includes many transformative projects such as expressways; high-speed rail, urban rail, and standard-gauge rail connecting with international destinations; large-scale seaports and airports; energy projects including nuclear, wind, and solar power; and an international financial centre.

The Government leader recommended that with its capacity, the KFAED directly and indirectly invest in projects and sectors that Việt Nam prioritises as mentioned above. He called on the fund to connect Kuwaiti enterprises to come to explore investment opportunities in potential fields such as industry-logistics, renewable energy, green economy, and the Halal ecosystem, while supporting Vietnamese businesses in accessing information and cooperation opportunities in Kuwait and the Middle East.

Asking for the KFAED’s assistance in finance, technology, human resources training, and management science, the PM hopes both sides can set up a joint working group to introduce potentials, needs, processes, and procedures in a harmonised and simplified way, develop collaborative and investment projects, and implement them step by step.

Việt Nam is ready to serve as a bridge for the KFAED to access ASEAN markets and neighbouring countries, he affirmed.

The KFAED Director General and his colleagues highly valued Việt Nam’s recent socio-economic development, its investment and business environment, as well as the country’s strategies and steps for national development in the coming period.

Agreeing with the PM’s recommendation to establish a joint working group to promote cooperation and investment, KFAED leaders also suggested promoting public-private partnerships and new cooperation mechanisms and models.

The fund expressed interest in the programmes and projects of Việt Nam’s priority fields, proposing the Vietnamese Government and PM to continue creating favourable conditions to promote cooperation through specific projects. — VNA/VNS