Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed confidence that with new momentum, new driving forces and new resources, together with the outcomes achieved so far, Vietnam and Algeria will act in line with their newly established strategic partnership.

On the afternoon of 19 November (local time), as part of his official visit to Algeria, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Algerian Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb attended and delivered remarks at the Vietnam-Algeria Economic Forum.

Prime Minister calls on Vietnamese businesses to invest in Algeria

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked participating enterprises for their contributions to bilateral relations, especially economic cooperation in the new period, and expressed his belief that Vietnam and Vietnamese businesses will significantly contribute to the goal of building a “New Algeria.”

Sharing with delegates the fundamental factors, strategic orientations, recent achievements, and key tasks and solutions for the coming time, the Prime Minister encouraged Algerian enterprises to invest in Vietnam, noting that the country’s business and investment environment is becoming increasingly favourable.

At the same time, he called on Vietnamese enterprises to intensify investment in Algeria in a stronger and more decisive manner, taking advantage of the country’s strengths, its strategic location connecting three continents, a territory of over 2 million square kilometers, diverse climate, and favourable conditions for industry, agriculture, and services.

According to the Prime Minister, Vietnamese enterprises can invest in Algeria “from tea planting to chip production,” and this is entirely feasible.

He highlighted energy as the first pillar of cooperation, urging the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) and other enterprises to expand cooperation and investment in Algeria in oil and gas exploration, refining, and petrochemicals for export, including fertilizers, with the spirit of “research and invest immediately, without delay.” He also stressed new energy sectors such as wind and solar power.

The Prime Minister further noted that Vietnamese businesses can invest in a wide range of sectors, from tea planting, livestock raising, afforestation, animal feed, and rice cultivation to high-tech industries such as semiconductor chip production and aerospace technology. He suggested that Viettel could cooperate with Algerian partners in producing 5G and 6G equipment.

Touching on agriculture, the Prime Minister said Vietnam has extensive experience in rice and tea cultivation, aquaculture, and seafood processing. Vietnam not only exports agricultural products but also exports agricultural expertise, models, and technologies, as directed by Party General Secretary To Lam.

Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises can invest directly in Algeria, produce locally, and export locally to markets in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, thereby reducing tariffs and costs. He affirmed that Algeria’s natural resources, combined with the intellect of both peoples and a spirit of solidarity and mutual support, will help generate material wealth, as “nothing is impossible.”

The Prime Minister stressed the need for both sides to confidently assign tasks and place orders with enterprises, maximizing the roles of state-owned, private, and small- and medium-sized enterprises with the highest effectiveness, acting “from heart to heart,” regarding Algeria’s interests as Vietnam’s own and Algeria’s achievements as Vietnam’s achievements.

Regarding mechanisms, he proposed that both sides enhance and upgrade the Vietnam-Algeria Joint Committee for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, applying flexible mechanisms and reporting to the two Prime Ministers on issues beyond their authority. He also assigned relevant agencies and banks to develop the most convenient and safest payment methods.

The Prime Minister emphasized that while policies are directed by the two States and political leaders, turning policies into concrete outcomes requires the efforts of ministries, sectors, agencies and especially enterprises of both countries.

He expressed confidence that with new momentum, new driving forces and new resources, and on the basis of the results achieved, the two sides will act in a manner worthy of their newly established Strategic Partnership and the legacy of solidarity, unity, and mutual support passed down from previous generations. This will help transform the countries’ distinctive potentials and competitive advantages into concrete projects and measurable results, contributing to building prosperous and strong nations and improving people’s living standards.

Vietnam and Algeria share core common values

In recent years, economic cooperation between Vietnam and Algeria has made encouraging progress. In 2024, Vietnam’s exports to Algeria reached about USD 192.3 million, mainly coffee, pepper, metals and chemicals; imports reached nearly USD 6 million, primarily fruits and vegetables, animal feed, and raw materials.

In investment, the most notable project is the Bir Seba oil field, a joint venture between the Vietnam Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation (under Petrovietnam), Algeria’s national oil company, and a Thai petroleum exploration firm, which has produced more than 55 million barrels of oil.

However, cooperation remains below its potential, with significant room for expansion, especially in sectors where the two sides have complementary strengths such as energy, minerals, construction, infrastructure development, logistics and high-tech agriculture.

Earlier, at a joint press conference announcing the upgrading of bilateral relations to a Strategic Partnership on 19 November (local time), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that the two sides held highly successful talks, exchanging comprehensively and reaching high consensus on principles, orientations and measures to further strengthen bilateral ties.

The agreement to upgrade Vietnam-Algeria relations to a strategic partnership reflects strong political trust at all levels and expands the scope of cooperation across all fields, particularly in economics, investment, culture, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and education. The two sides consider economic cooperation the key pillar and driving force for deep, substantive and effective relations.

Politically, the two leaders agreed to continue fostering the traditional friendship, strengthening political trust, reinforcing solidarity, and supporting each other in bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

In economy-trade-investment, recognizing the vast potential and complementary needs of both economies, the two sides resolved to make this a central pillar and driving force of the strategic partnership. They agreed to accelerate negotiations on a goods trade agreement to open market access and promote trade diversification and exchange of key products.

The two sides also committed to promoting a transparent, equitable and non-discriminatory trade and investment environment and pledged to facilitate strategic cooperation projects, especially in oil and gas, textiles and agriculture, ensuring effective and sustainable implementation as a basis for expanding cooperation into other promising sectors.

Regarding cooperation in multilateral forums, the two sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of shared interest; reaffirmed their support for multilateralism; and pledged continued close coordination in international organizations to promote reform of global governance in a fair and efficient manner, strengthening the voice and role of developing countries and supporting Global South cooperation.

They also reaffirmed the central roles of ASEAN and the African Union (AU) and agreed to contribute to enhancing cooperation between Asian and African nations within the South-South cooperation framework.

In other areas, the two leaders discussed expanding cooperation into new fields suited to each country’s strengths and development needs, such as agriculture-environment, science-technology, innovation, digital transformation, Halal food production, culture, education-training, people-to-people exchanges and local-level cooperation.

Viet Nam is among the world’s top 20 economies in international trade, with total import-export turnover approaching USD 800 billion, a trade surplus of nearly USD 25 billion, and full membership in 17 free trade agreements with most major economic partners worldwide.