Nhan Dan/VNA - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his entourage arrived at the Kuwait International Airport on March 10, beginning his official visit to Kuwait at the invitation of his Kuwaiti counterpart, Nasser al Mohammed al Ahmed al Jaber al Sabah.

An official welcome ceremony in honour of PM Dung and his delegation was held at the Liberation Square, the Bayan Palace.

This is the first visit to Kuwait by a Vietnamese PM since the two countries established diplomatic ties on January 10, 1976.

On the afternoon of the same day, PM Dung hold talks with his counterpart Al-Sabah.

They agreed to boost bilateral co-operation in various areas, especially in investment, finance, energy, agriculture, trade and labour.

They also agreed to increase the exchange of visits to boost co-operation for the sake of sustainable development in their respective countries.

The Kuwaiti PM affirmed his country’s determination to strengthen relations with Vietnam, considering the Southeast Asian nation as a top priority in Kuwait’s East-oriented policy.

He praised Vietnam’s efforts to overcome the negative effects of the current global financial and economic crisis. He affirmed that apart from oil and gas, Kuwait wanted to expand co-operation with Vietnam in finance, trade, agriculture, labour and investment in infrastructure construction.

For his part, Mr Dung thanked the Kuwait Government and people for their effective assistance to Vietnam in the past and during the current process of national construction and development.

He noted that the relations of friendship and co-operation in all areas, including economics and investment between the two countries, had developed well, particularly since the official visit to Vietnam by the Kuwaiti PM in May 2007.

He said that Kuwaiti-funded projects have contributed to poverty reduction and the building of basic infrastructure facilities in rural Vietnam.

Mr Dung invited his Kuwait counterpart to visit Vietnam again and the invitation was accepted with pleasure.

After talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of an agreement on double tax avoidance, a co-operation agreement between the Vietnam State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) and the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) and an agreement on agricultural co-operation between the two countries.

Earlier, PM Dung visited the Kuwait Scientific Centre.