At a meeting with visiting Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali in Hanoi, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Vietnam wishes to boost its cooperation with Kuwait, especially in the field of oil and gas.

PM Dung made the statement at his talks with the Kuwaiti Minister on Tuesday, during which he also said Vietnam always considers Kuwait one of the country’s important economic partners. The PM expressed his hope that Kuwait will help Vietnam in personnel training for the oil and gas sector and receive Vietnamese guest workers. The Vietnamese government leader thanked the Kuwaiti State for its support to flood victims in Vietnam’s central region as well as its assistance to help Vietnam access loans for rural infrastructure projects through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.

He also highly appreciated the Kuwaiti Government’s role in the implementation of the Nghi Son refinery and petrochemical project in the central province of Thanh Hoa, especially the country’s commitments to providing lifelong crude oil for the complex.

PM Dung suggested the Kuwaiti Government continues instructing and assisting the Kuwait Limited Liability Company, one of the project’s investors, to ensure the project’s progress, contributing to each country’s development and the friendship between the two nations.

In reply, Mustafa Al-Shamali affirmed that Kuwait always creates favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to invest in Kuwait and confirmed his readiness to back Vietnam in human resources development for the oil and gas sector. The ministry also said the Kuwaiti State has decided to send US$3 million in support for victims of tropical storm Nari in central Vietnam. As part of his visit to Vietnam, the Kuwaiti official is scheduled to attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the Nghi Son refinery and petrochemical complex in Thanh Hoa today, October 23.

Vietnam and Kuwait, an Arab country in Western Asia, established official diplomatic ties on January 10, 1976.