KUWAIT CITY — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Tuesday held working sessions with officials and business leaders of Kuwait to promote the materialisation of the countries’ strategic partnership across various fields.

During his meeting with Sheikh Saoud Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah, Managing Director of the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), PM Chính, who is on an official visit to the country, said that his agreement with Kuwaiti leaders to upgrade Việt Nam-Kuwait relations to a Strategic Partnership during the trip provides favourable conditions for advancing cooperation in all areas, especially economy.

Noting that the nations’ economic, investment and trade ties have yet to match the strong political relations, the Vietnamese Government leader asked the KIA to provide financing and cooperate not only with Việt Nam’s State-owned sector but also its private sector in priority fields and potential projects in Việt Nam’s development of railways, sea ports, airports, energy, and international financial centre, among others.

He particularly called for efforts to open a direct Kuwait-Việt Nam air route, enhance economic and business connectivity, boost cultural exchanges and tourism, and strengthen people-to-people links.

The PM affirmed that the Vietnamese Government is committed to ensuring political stability, investment security, and the protection of the legitimate interests of foreign investors, and will accompany the KIA so that its investment projects in Việt Nam are implemented effectively and sustainably, serving the mutual benefit of both countries.

For his part, Sheikh Saoud Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah said the KIA is diversifying its investment portfolio not only for the present but for long-term global development, and Việt Nam has been identified as one of its destinations. Kuwait in general, and Kuwaiti enterprises in particular, wish to expand cooperation, and many of their investment projects in Việt Nam are already yielding positive results.

Sharing the Prime Minister’s views, he said the KIA will send a working delegation to coordinate with Vietnamese partners to clear bottlenecks, pave the way for future projects, and foster sustainable investment cooperation between the two countries. He expressed his hope that the two governments will support this orientation so that concrete and long-term cooperative projects can soon be established, contributing to the sides’ shared prosperity.

At his meeting with Shaikh Nawaf S. Al-Sabah, Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), PM Chính thanked the Kuwaiti side for its investment projects in Việt Nam, highlighting the Nghi Sơn refinery and petrochemical plant as a symbol of the investment cooperation between the two countries.

The leader asked Kuwait to work closely with Vietnamese partners to completely address outstanding issues at the plant in the spirit of “harmonised interests and shared risks”, while also expanding it and promoting additional cooperation projects in Việt Nam’s oil and gas sector, particularly in green and environmentally friendly energy.

Việt Nam expects Kuwait and the KPC to continue supplying stable and competitively priced crude oil to the country, he noted.

For his part, Shaikh Nawaf S. Al-Sabah said the KPC has been closely coordinating with the Vietnam National Industry - Energy Group (Petrovietnam) and other partners to resolve bottlenecks at the Nghi Sơn project, while further promoting investment in Việt Nam, especially in the refining and petrochemical industry.

He proposed the PM direct relevant ministries and agencies of Việt Nam to continue working closely with the KPC, and to maintain favourable mechanisms and incentives, and streamlined administrative procedures so that the corporation can implement new projects in Việt Nam.

The PM also called on the KPC to share experience and provide technical expertise to help Việt Nam develop large-scale refineries to ensure both energy security and economic growth targets. He added that the KPC should consider cooperating with Việt Nam to build a bonded petroleum storage facility in the country, enabling Kuwait to establish an additional strategic location for its fuel reserves, while further strengthening the special friendship between the two nations.

Meeting with Minister of Oil Tariq Suleiman Al-Roumi, the PM called on his ministry to keep facilitating cooperation and connectivity between the two sides’ energy groups.

He suggested setting up a task force to settle outstanding issues at the Nghi Sơn refinery and petrochemical project, while opening up new areas of collaboration such as exploration, production, supply of crude oil, product trading, technical services, and workforce training.

The leader said he hopes Kuwait will expand the Nghi Sơn refinery and petrochemical project and invest in additional complexes to help Việt Nam secure its energy supply in the next phase of development. He also urged Kuwait to consider building in Việt Nam a storage and distribution hub for fuel and energy serving the broader Southeast Asian region.

For his part, the Kuwaiti minister thanked the Vietnamese Government and the PM for their support for Kuwait’s projects in the Southeast Asian nation, particularly their push to resolve obstacles during project implementation.

The official said he would work with Vietnamese ministries and agencies to flesh out an action programme to effectively implement the Việt Nam–Kuwait Strategic Partnership. Alongside efforts to remove bottlenecks, the two sides will propose new directions and drivers for cooperation and investment.

He expressed confidence that under the new Strategic Partnership framework, economic, trade and investment ties, especially in energy, will see strong growth in the time ahead. — VNS