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By Raynald C Rivera
Vietnam is keen on further bolstering ties with Qatar economically, particularly in the field of energy as well as tourism, said Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Hoang.
Ambassador Hoang said Vietnam and Qatar have enjoyed cordial relations politically as demonstrated by exchange of high level visits in the past with still more being planned for the future.
“Relations are good especially politically. There have been high level visits in the past and we are preparing for many more important visits,” the ambassador told the media recently.
Almost 2,000 Vietnamese are working in Qatar mostly engaged in the construction sector, said Hoang, adding Vietnam exports mainly agricultural products to Qatar.
“The potential for economic cooperation is huge which we intend to develop in the coming years. We wish to focus on oil and gas because Vietnam is also developing in this area,” he said.
While Vietnam’s tourism sector is thriving with increase in tourist arrivals, not many tourists from Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries visit Vietnam.
Latest figures show total international arrivals from January to October has crossed eight million, an increase of 25.4 percent over the same period last year. More than 800,000 tourists visited Vietnam last month, most of whom came from China.
“Vietnam is now very famous in tourism. We encourage Qatari tourists to come to Vietnam,” Hoang said. Tourists from the Middle East is still a small number, so we would like to promote tourism as much as possible,” he added.
Ambassador Hoang was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the first-ever Vietnamese Culture and Cuisine Festival which recently opened at Shangri-La Doha Hotel’s Sridan Restaurant.
© The Peninsula 2016
