President of the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organizations Phan Anh Son (right) receives Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Viet Nam Thamer Mohammed A. Algosaibi. (Photo: Dinh Hoa)

Ambassador Thamer Mohammed A. Algosaibi emphasized that Viet Nam and Saudi Arabia share many similarities in their development orientations. While Saudi Arabia is implementing its Vision 2030, Viet Nam has set development goals for 2030, with a vision toward 2045. Both countries seek to improve people's living standards, expand trade, deepen international integration, and develop tourism. These shared priorities provide a favorable foundation for advancing bilateral relations, including people-to-people diplomacy.

The Ambassador proposed strengthening cooperation in education, academic research, sports, and people-to-people exchanges. Specifically, the two sides could organize dialogues among scholars and experts on international political and security issues, establish ties between sports federations, and hold women's forums and student exchange programs between Viet Nam and Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting, President Phan Anh Son provided an overview of VUFO's functions, role, and network of partners. He emphasized that enhancing mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries is an important task of people-to-people diplomacy. VUFO and the Saudi Arabian Embassy could work together to serve as bridges between the two countries, strengthen information exchange, and share experiences.

To translate these areas of cooperation into concrete initiatives, President Phan Anh Son proposed jointly organizing thematic seminars in the near future, bringing together representatives of local authorities, experts, scholars, and businesses. These events would provide opportunities to present the two countries' socio-economic development orientations and visions, as well as recommendations for Viet Nam-Saudi Arabia cooperation.

In addition, the two sides could explore the possibility of establishing a Viet Nam-Saudi Arabia Friendship Association and a corresponding organization in Saudi Arabia, thereby expanding networks for people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.

President Phan Anh Son emphasized the need for both sides to identify areas in which their respective strengths could complement each other. As an initial step, universities in the two countries could be connected to promote academic cooperation. Greater efforts could also be made to connect Vietnamese localities and businesses to explore market demand, particularly for agricultural and food products that meet Halal standards.

Ambassador Thamer Mohammed A. Algosaibi highly appreciated the discussions and expressed his hope that VUFO would continue to serve as a focal point for coordination, facilitating connections among agencies and organizations in both countries to implement exchange and cooperation activities in the coming period.

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