State Minister and Minister of Hydrocarbons and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, received the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, in Algiers on Thursday. The meeting took place as part of the Vietnamese Prime Minister’s official visit to Algeria.
The discussions, attended by the CEO of Sonatrach, Toufik Hakkar, and the President of the National Agency for the Valorization of Hydrocarbon Resources, Samir Bakhti, alongside senior officials from both countries, focused on strengthening bilateral cooperation.
Both parties acknowledged the deep-rooted historical ties and solidarity between the two nations, highlighting their shared history of struggle. They reaffirmed the political will of their respective leaders to elevate bilateral cooperation to the level of a strategic partnership.
Discussions encompassed collaboration in the hydrocarbons and mining sectors, with specific praise for the existing partnership between Sonatrach and PetroVietnam. Minister Arkab provided a comprehensive overview of Algeria’s hydrocarbon and mining sectors’ development program, emphasizing new legislative and regulatory reforms designed to incentivize investment in exploration, production, petrochemical industries, and the processing sector. He also highlighted the significant potential of Algeria’s mining sector.
Both sides welcomed the adoption of a declaration establishing a strategic partnership and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Sonatrach and PetroVietnam. This agreement sets a new framework for cooperation in several areas, including exploration and production both domestically and internationally, the development of refining and petrochemical projects, studies on supplying the Vietnamese market with LNG and LPG, collaboration in renewable energy and green hydrogen, training, technology transfer, energy infrastructure development, innovation, and low-carbon solutions.
The meeting also reviewed the outcomes of the 13th session of the Algerian-Vietnamese Joint Committee, held in Algiers, which saw broad agreement on strengthening cooperation in exploration and production, developing refineries and processing projects, exchanging oil and gas products, expanding cooperation in industrial digitization and research and development, and supporting training programs between specialized institutions in both countries.
In closing, both parties reiterated their commitment to advancing bilateral cooperation towards broader horizons and intensifying technical meetings between experts.
