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The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently hosted a Vietnamese business delegation to explore opportunities for strengthening economic cooperation and investment exchange between Sharjah and Vietnam. During the meeting at the Chamber’s headquarters, both parties discussed mechanisms to leverage the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed between the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam in October 2024 to enhance private sector collaboration and increase bilateral trade volume.
The discussions brought together Abdulaziz Al Shamsi, Assistant Director General of the Communication and Business Sector at Sharjah Chamber, and Chu Viet Cuong, Director of the Industrial Development Center at Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade. Representatives from both countries’ business communities participated, representing logistics services, furniture manufacturing, pharmaceutical industries, and smart technology applications.
UAE-Vietnam Economic Cooperation Targets Priority Sectors
Both delegations explored investment opportunities across several mutually prioritized sectors during the meeting. These included technology and electronics manufacturing, logistics services and supply chains, food industries and food security, furniture and advanced manufacturing, as well as technology, innovation, and pharmaceutical sectors.
The meeting emphasized the importance of integrating supply chains and adding value between companies in Sharjah and Vietnam. This focus comes amid accelerating bilateral trade growth, which reached approximately $7.02 billion in the first half of 2025, representing a 16.9% increase compared to the same period in 2024, according to data presented at the meeting.
Additionally, UAE non-oil exports to Vietnam demonstrated remarkable growth of 58.4% during the same period. Re-export activities also expanded by 15% in the first nine months of 2025, highlighting the strengthening commercial ties between the two nations.
Strategic Partnership Benefits Both Business Communities
Al Shamsi welcomed the Vietnamese trade delegation, describing their visit as a strategic step toward deepening economic links between both sides. He emphasized that the Sharjah Chamber prioritizes developing partnerships with the Vietnamese business community, aligning with the objectives of the “We the UAE 2031” vision, which aims to double non-oil foreign trade to 4 trillion dirhams.
Vietnam represents a promising market with more than 100 million consumers and serves as a strategic gateway for the UAE into the ASEAN region, according to Al Shamsi. The country offers enormous opportunities for investment expansion in energy, infrastructure, and technology sectors.
Furthermore, Al Shamsi highlighted Sharjah’s competitive investment environment and stimulating legislative framework. He invited Vietnamese investors to benefit from advantages offered by Sharjah’s free zones, which provide full ownership rights and advanced logistics infrastructure, as well as technical services from the Sharjah Export Development Center supporting goods exchange and re-export activities.
CEPA Agreement Opens New Investment Channels
Chu Viet Cuong expressed Vietnam’s commitment to enhancing industrial and technical cooperation with Sharjah, praising the Chamber’s pioneering role in supporting the private sector and facilitating the business environment. He explained that Vietnam’s Industrial Development Center works to develop supporting industries, strengthen supply chains, and enable Vietnamese industrial enterprises to collaborate with global manufacturers.
The Vietnamese official noted that the participation of elite specialized Vietnamese companies in the trade delegation reflects Vietnam’s diverse industrial base and readiness to build sustainable and fruitful partnerships with Sharjah counterparts. He confirmed that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement creates unprecedented opportunities for growth in mutual investment flows and facilitates goods movement through tariff reductions.
Bilateral Investment Reaches Significant Milestones
The meeting addressed the importance of organizing business sessions between Chamber members and Vietnamese company representatives to explore direct cooperation opportunities. Areas discussed included innovation, digital transformation, financial technology, and the green economy.
However, participants also reviewed success stories of Emirati companies invested in Vietnam, with investments reaching approximately $4 billion across energy, ports, logistics services, and real estate sectors. Both parties emphasized the need to intensify trade delegation exchanges and participation in specialized exhibitions organized by Expo Centre Sharjah.
The Chamber and Vietnamese delegation are expected to continue coordinating follow-up meetings and organizing sector-specific business matchmaking sessions in coming months, though specific timelines have not been confirmed. Both parties expressed commitment to establishing permanent communication channels to monitor partnership development and facilitate ongoing business exchanges.
