Vietnam-Russia bilateral trade to reach US$10 billion by 2020

  longhaiplaza.com

  22/09/2017

Vietnam and Russia have seen a lot of opportunities to boost the bilateral cooperation in all fields of economy, trade and investment, targetting the two-way trade value of US$10 billion by 2020.

“We [Vietnam and Russia] have agreed to effectively implement the Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Free Trade Agreement to bring breakthroughs in economic, trade and investment relations between Vietnam and Russia, as well as between Vietnam and other EAEU members,” said Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung.

Deputy PM made this remark during the 20th meeting of the Vietnam-Russia Intergovernmental Committee for Economic-Commercial and Scientific-Technological Cooperation in Ho Chi Minh City on September 8.

The annual meeting, co-chaired by Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung and his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanovich Shivalov, aims to execute political commitments of the two countries’ leaders vowed in their meeting in Moscow in June.

Deputy PM Dung said the two countries have targeted a bilateral trade of US$10 billion by 2020.

The two-way trade has grown significantly after the Vietnam-EAEU FTA took effect, reaching nearly US$2 billion in the first seven months of this year, up 27 per cent year-on-year.

The Vietnam-EAEU FTA, involving Vietnam, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, was signed in May 2015 and took effect in October last year.

Ending June, Russia has pumped US$1.05 billion in 115 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam while Vietnam had 18 FDI projects worth US$2.4 billion in Russia.

The two sides have agreed to step up cooperation in a wide range of areas, from economy, trade, investment, banking and finance, to energy, mining, science-technology, transport, healthcare, culture and tourism.

The two countries have reviewed the implementation in the priority projects in the fields of industry, energy, oil and gas, infrastructure, as well as consider new projects in urban railway and metro construction.

In particular, Vietnam and Russia have encouraged localities to establish cooperation relationships to amplify each other’s advantages.

“There is great potential for cooperation between localities of the two countries, especially in the areas such as farming, light industrial parks in Russia and infrastructure and tourism services in Vietnam,” Vietnamese Deputy PM Dung said.

Priority to agriculture

Vietnam and Russia have negotiated to boost bilateral trade with a focus on lifting exports of agricultural and consumer goods to Russia. The two sides have agreed to work with each other to improve the quality of export products, ensure food hygiene and safety.

Russian Deputy PM Igor Ivanovich Shivalov also said the agreements on agricultural sector reached in this event was very important. He confirmed Russia has a wide market and is very interested in Vietnam’s agricultural, forestry and fishery products, meanwhile Russia has many suitable products to export to Vietnam.

He said Russia pays high attention and will facilitate the investment of the Vietnamese dairy group TH in this country.

TH True Milk plans to invest a total of US$2.7 billion in estabishing dairy operations in Russia. The company has disbursed US$1 billion so far. Russia’s domestic dairy market has seen robust growth in investment from Asia after the Western imports were banned in 2014.

While admitting the bilateral trade is still modest, Shivalov highlighted the importance of the Vietnam-EAEU FTA and said the two countries and other members will seek measures to implement the agreement effectively.

In the field of trade and services, Russian Deputy PM said Russia is keen on the Vietnamese market and considers it one of the key markets for Russian goods and services. At the same time, Russia is committed to creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to penetrate its market and expand investments.

Source: Vietrade