Vietnamese Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi and Algerian Minister of Industry and Pharmaceutical Production Ali Aoun co-chaired the 12th meeting of the Vietnam-Algeria Inter-Governmental Committee which opened in Hanoi on October 16.
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Minister Nguyen Thanh Nghi spoke to open the Meeting
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister Nguyen Thanh Nghi emphasized the important of the 12th Session of the Vietnam - Algeria Intergovernmental Committee. He said that, although the two countries are geographically different, they still shared their similar in history, desire for peace, national independence and building a prosperous and happy country. In recent years, political and diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Algeria have been promoting through maintaining the exchange of high-level leadership delegations of the two countries, the Intergovernmental Committee cooperation mechanism and the Government Consultation mechanism between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs.
Minister Nghi said that currently Vietnam has been continuing to effectively implement the "three strategic breakthroughs" - institutional reform, infrastructure development and improving the quality of human resources; at the same time focusing on innovating the growth model based on science, technology and innovation, promoting human resources, actively implementing digital transformation, green transformation, towards the goal of zero net emissions by 2050; becoming a high-income developed country by 2045.
In 2022, like other countries globally, Vietnam faces many challenges due to rapid and unpredictable fluctuations in the world economy, increasing risks to the financial and currency markets, energy security and food security. However, with the efforts and determination of the entire Party, the entire army, and the entire people, Vietnam has achieved economic achievements: GDP growth reached 8.02%, the highest level in the period 2011-2022; total registered FDI capital reached nearly 28 billion USD; total import and export turnover of goods is estimated at 732.5 billion USD, up 9.5% over the previous year.
Regarding bilateral cooperation, Minister Nguyen Thanh Nghi emphasized that Algeria has always been an important partner of Vietnam in the African market and is Vietnam's 4th largest export market in this continent. In 2018, two-way trade turnover reached 195.6 million USD. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and many objective factors, two-way trade turnover in 2022 only reached 144.2 million USD, of which Vietnam exported 141 million USD and imported from Algeria 3.2 million USD. Therefore, Vietnam wants Algeria to increase the export of goods to the Vietnamese market to narrow the trade balance between two countries.
Cooperation in the oil and gas sector is a bright spot of bilateral economic ties. Progress has also been seen in collaboration in agriculture, aquaculture, information technology, tourism, and other fields. In addition to coordination between ministries and departments, the signing of agreements and twinned relations between Vietnam's Dien Bien province and Algeria's Batna province in August 2023 has contributed to the diversification of cooperation between the two countries.
Minister Nghi suggested the two sides focus on reaching consensus on key areas such as trade in agricultural and consumer goods, oil and gas, agriculture, information technology, tourism, construction, finance, banking; housing, urban planning, culture, and agriculture.
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Minister Ali Aoun spoke at the Meeting
Minister Ali said that, Algeria greatly admires Vietnam's socio-economic development achievements in recent years and wishes to further develop economic relations with Vietnam, based on the diversification fields of cooperation, focusing on launching specific cooperation projects, especially in the fields of oil and gas, construction, and agriculture.
According to Minister Ali Aoun, with the attention and careful preparation of the Ministry of Construction - Standing agency of the Vietnamese branch of the Vietnam - Algeria Intergovernmental Committee, the contents of the Meeting will be effectively exchanged and discussed by two sides and the Meeting will be a great success, contributing to raising the friendly cooperative relationship between the two countries to a new level.
Regarding new cooperation proposals, the Vietnamese side received draft agreements from Algeria in the fields of healthcare, education, vocational training, tourism, sports, energy, and investment. Vietnamese ministries and agencies will discuss with their Algerian counterparts during the meeting to determine the potential cooperation areas of shared interest.