The number of Vietnamese workers in Qatar has touched nearly 2,000 with prospects for more to come, especially in the construction sector, ambassador Nguyen Hoang said.
“The relations between Qatar and Vietnam have seen great development in various areas, in particular on the economic and business front,” he told Gulf Times on the sidelines of a community gathering at his residence on Sunday to mark the lunar New Year.
“I have scheduled a meeting with Qatari businessmen and investors to discuss with them the available businesses opportunities in Vietnam, where they can have their own projects,” Hoang added.
The envoy called upon his compatriots to respect the local laws and traditions and maintain their reputation as hard working and skilled people.
He expressed hope that both countries will have more joint development efforts in the future, especially in business, culture and sports.
The ambassador pointed out that Vietnam is a great tourist destination with beautiful landscapes and historical and heritage sites. Yet, the number of tourists from Qatar has been very limited so far, despite the availability of “two direct and very comfortable flights daily from Doha to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.”
“There are great investment opportunities in the tourism sector, where investors are invited to take part,” he said while stating that the embassy is set to exert more efforts to introduce Vietnam and its great potential, in an effort to attract more
tourists.
“Vietnam is also considered a very secure and friendly place, where large number of tourists from various places around the world, especially Europe, the US, China and Japan, visit
annually.
Qatar Petroleum International and National Petroleum Company of Vietnam have signed a three-party agreement (Vietnam- Qatar- Thailand) for ongoing investment projects Long Son petrochemical for $4.5bn, which continue to create a considerable number of jobs in
Vietnam.
In 2014, Vietnam and Qatar held the first meeting of the Qatari-Vietnamese Joint Committee for economic, trade and technical co-operation. At the meeting, the two countries discussed and agreed on expanding bilateral relations in all fields: political, diplomatic, trade, investment, finance, banking and sports. Besides, businessmen from both countries explored the potential of partnership in different areas of business.
As the ambassador congratulated his compatriots on the Lunar New Year, he stressed the positive growth of the Vietnamese economy.
“GDP growth rate of Vietnam in 2015 is approximately 6.5%, the highest index from 2011. Vietnam has been forecast to attain 6.6% GDP growth rate in 2016, the second fastest pace in the world, according to Bloomberg,” he told his compatriots.
“Vietnam has a significant place in the investment world map with geo-strategic place in the centre of Asia, competitive human resources, politically stable and various preferential policy in tax, world and regional integration, and high growth rate,” he added.