At the meeting (Photo: congthuong.vn)
So said Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien during his co-chairmanship with Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Sivak of the virtual 15th meeting of the Vietnam – Belarus Inter-Governmental Committee on economic - trade and scientific - technical cooperation.
Regarding economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An said during the meeting that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-way trade turnover in 2021 reached USD168.8 million, an increase of 131.6% compared to 2020.
After the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union took effect, bilateral trade recorded a high growth rate with traditional exports from Vietnam such as seafood, vegetables, cashew nuts, rubber, machinery, equipment, tools, spare parts, phones and components; as well as goods imported from Belarus to Vietnam such as fertilizers, spare parts; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts; milk and dairy products and pharmaceuticals.
Regarding investment, by the end of 2021, Belarus has 3 investment projects in Vietnam with a total investment capital of USD32.25 million, ranking 67th out of 140 countries and territories with direct investment capital into Vietnam.
Regarding cooperation in the industrial sector, Deputy Minister of Industry of Belarus Ogorodnikov Alexander reported positive results in the implementation of the Protocol of Cooperation on the production and assembly of means of transport in Vietnam, the construction of a dairy factory by the Minsk Dairy Factory joint venture in Hung Yen Province, and a cooperation project on heavy trucks of the Belarusian Belaz Company.
During the meeting, the delegates of the two sides conducted many exchanges on potential and measures for cooperation in the fields of industry, commerce, agriculture, science - technology, culture, sports, tourism and training.
Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Sivak emphasized that Vietnam has always been a reliable and important partner of Belarus in the region. With the contents reached by the two sides at the meeting, Vietnam and Belarus will create a mechanism and legal framework to deploy and develop cooperation in the fields of mechanical engineering, food production, and technology transfer, pharmaceutical supply and, more importantly, increase trade turnover and investment projects in general.
At the end of the meeting, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Anatoly Sivak signed the minutes of meeting./.