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VN, Russia eye $10b trade
Viet Nam and Russia targeted to reach a trade turnover of US$10 billion in 2020, according to a conference held in the capital late last week.
Trade relations between the two sides have shown many positive signals since the beginning of this year, affirmed Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong.
He said that in the first quarter, the countries gained nearly $520 million in trade, a year-on-year increase of more than 20 per cent.
Of the figure, he added, export from Viet Nam to Russia reached more than $311 million, up 31 per cent in comparison with the same time last year.
During this time, the country spent $208 million on imports from Russia, a year-on-year up of 7.7 per cent.
With such positive results, the two sides aim to reach a trade turnover of $3 billion this year, he said.
At the conference, participants agreed that relations between Viet Nam and Russia would further develop especially in trade, investment and tourism as the latter became a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Accordingly, Russia will reduce import tax on many agriculture, aquaculture, garment, textile and footwear products.
As a result, taxes based on some Vietnamese products will be about 30-50 per cent less than the current rates.
Moreover, the country is presently negotiating a free trade agreement with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Despite the potential to develop trade relations, experts agreed that there remained many shortcomings, including an information shortage.
Few Vietnamese companies have branches and representative offices in Russia, said Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Pham Gia Tuc.
To solve the problem, Tuc advised the development of a distribution system by which Vietnamese companies could represent themselves in Russia.
Russian delegates at the conference promised to give Vietnamese companies a chance to expand their operations in Russia.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment said it would organise many promotion programmes to assist companies from both countries.
However, Vietnamese companies were urged to actively participate in gathering information on Russian companies.
Russia is an important partner to Viet Nam with a population of 140 million people. Last year, trade turnover between the two sides hit $2.1 billion
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