Asean chair in 2020

Secretary of the Hanoi municipal Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Secretary of the Hanoi municipal Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue has requested ensuring the progress of repairing and upgrading work on facilities for the 31st Southeast Asian Games ( SEA Games 31 ) and the 11th Southeast Asian Para Games (ASEAN Para Games 11). ASEAN Para Games 11 .

Secretary of the Hanoi municipal Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue greets athletes on training (Photo: VNA)

The city set the goal of earning 38-40 golds, or over 30 percent of gold medals targeted by the Vietnamese team, 30-32 silvers and 28-30 bronzes.

The Hanoitimes – The two sides consider inter-parliamentary cooperation an important component of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

The first Vietnam-Russia inter-parliament meeting has opened up new areas of cooperation that are poised to foster the comprehensive strategic partnership.

Vietnam’s National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav V. Volodin. Photo: VNA

Vietnam’s National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav V. Volodin co-chaired the meeting in Moscow last week.

“It would be right for us to work more intensively in the economic sphere, developing both foreign economic relations and goods circulation. It is clearly insufficient for the level of our relations. […] For our part, we must do everything to develop cooperation more effectively than today,” the State Duma quoted Viacheslav Volodin.

“When we talk about the work of our inter-parliament commission, it should do everything to ensure more dynamical development of foreign economic relations,” he said at the meeting.

Viacheslav Volodin supported the idea of creating working groups and said that the adoption of legislative decisions would entail a more active development of relations.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said “We will do our best to develop cooperation between our countries, trade and economic relations better. To ensure that these results correspond to good political relations between our countries.”

Vietnam’s National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav V. Volodin at the first inter-parliament meeting in Moscow. Photo: Duma.org.ru

Economic in focus, oil and gas remain among key pillars

Both sides agreed to focus on economic ties.

Ngan said that it is necessary to discuss issues of cooperation in the oil and gas sector, agriculture, and tourism. She proposed having separate working groups for each field.

Vietnam expected to continue cooperation with Russia in power projects, especially one in the Center for Nuclear Science and Technology.

Viacheslav Volodin said the two countries need to do everything to develop more actively foreign economic relations and goods circulation so that Russian companies can more actively participate in the development of these relations, implementing investment projects.

He noted “It is extremely important to create all conditions for business development and implementation of investment projects both in Russia and Vietnam on the principles of developing bilateral cooperation.”

“If we reach US$10 billion (turnover), this will give an additional impetus to our countries. This will develop the economies of our countries and increase their prosperity,” said the chairman of the State Duma.

The leaders stressed the importance of more than 70 years of diplomatic relations and 25 years since the signing of the treaty on the principles of friendly relations between Vietnam and Russia, and the two parties.

They affirmed the parliament’s significant role in strengthening the legal basis for the bilateral relations and close coordination between the two sides at international parliamentary organizations, such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum, meetings with dialogue partners at the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments, and the International Forum “Development of Parliamentarism”.

The Hanoitimes – Activities including trade expos are expected to tighten economic ties between the two countries which will celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Russia is of great potential and Vietnamese authorities will create more favorable conditions for the investment and operations of Russian firms, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has said.

Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung. Photo: Linh Pham

Vietnam and Russia trade will greatly depend on vision and determination from the both sides, especially the business communities, Dung said at the Expo-Russia Vietnam 2019 taking place in Hanoi on November 14-16.

Being a member of 13 free trade agreements (FTAs), 12 of which are already effective, Vietnam has been committed to international regulations requiring high standards for goods and trade activities, Dung said, adding that FTAs will encourage foreign companies to enter Vietnam, ASEAN, and Asia as well.

Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Konstantin Vnukov. Photo: VTC News

The enforcement of the Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement (VN-EAEU FTA) is a strong boost for the Vietnam-Russia trade, he noted.

Accordingly, Vietnam expects its leather and footwear, agro-forestry-fisheries, electronics and consumer goods to further penetrate into Russia and other markets in the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Vu Tien Loc, president of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Photo: Linh Pham

Meanwhile, Vietnam welcomes Russian goods like farm produce, pharmaceuticals, health, industrial equipment, automobile spare parts, devices, mine extraction, materials, high-tech products, energy, and oil.

Sergey Anatolievich Tsyb, first deputy minister of Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, said at the expo that Vietnam ranks among Russia’s top 10 Asian biggest trade partners and the biggest trade partner in ASEAN.

Health and pharmaceuticals are among sectors posting the strongest growth in the bilateral economic ties and Russian companies are finding opportunities to cooperate in these sectors as Vietnam has a strong health industry.

Russian companies are ready to supply the best materials which are highlighted in this expo for Vietnamese partners, he emphasized.

Senior Russian offcials attend the expo. Photo: Linh Pham

Expo-Russia Vietnam 2019 is one of the main activities celebrating Vietnam Year in Russia and Russia Year in Vietnam 2019.

The expo will open up opportunities to exchange goods and find out new collaborative ways that will support companies and facilitate short-term trade between the two countries, Russia’s Ambassador to Hanoi Konstantin Vnukov said at the event.

Sergey Anatolievich Tsyb (1st from left), first deputy minister of Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. Photo: Ha An

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a letter sent to the expo that the event is necessary for information exchange and partnership for enhanced economic ties, of which Vietnam has contributed tremendously to the substantive cooperation.

The expo showcases booths of nearly 200 Russian companies and localities in Vietnam. More than 300 exchange meetings have been held during the three-day event.

Vision

Vietnam-Russia trade value in 2014-2020. Source: General Department of Vietnam Customs. Chart: Linh Pham

The bilateral economic ties have significantly increased since the enforcement of the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

As a result of the launch of this mechanism, Vietnam will obtain a privileged access to the large and lucrative common market of five countries namely Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with the total volume of gross domestic product of around US$2.2 trillion and with almost 183 million consumers.

In exchange, the five Eurasian countries will be able to promote their products in Vietnam with a population of over 95 million people.

Two-way trade rose from US$2.6 billion in 2014, US$3.9 billion in 2015, US$5.2 billion in 2017, US$6.1 billion in 2018 and is estimated to reach US$10 billion by 2020, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Vinh Long province plans to promote shipment of high-quality rice. (Photo: VNA)

Vinh Long (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long is striving to boost sustainable export growth during 2021-2025.

The province has set the target to reel in 870 million USD from exports by 2025, with key export markets including ASEAN, Japan, China, China’s Taiwan, Russia, East European countries, Africa, the EU and the US.

According to Director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Trung Kien, seeing rice as a key export, Vinh Long plans to ship average 100,000-200,000 tonnes of high-quality rice per year abroad until 2025, and work to increase price of local rice while diversifying rice products to branch out markets.

Holding a huge advantage of tra and basa fish farming, the province eyes to sell some 20,000 tonnnes of frozen tra fish to foreign markets by 2025.

Kien said Vinh Long is making efforts to gain 35-40 million USD from exports of grape fruits, canned fruits, dried fruits, and vegetables by 2025, adding areas were zoned off for cultivation of vegetables and orchards such as grape fruit, orange, tangerine, longan, and mango, among others.

Additionally, the locality targets 530-600 million USD in export revenue of leather footwear and garment-textile, and 60 million USD in export revenue of handicraft products by 2025.

In a bid to realise the set goals, an array of measures were outlined, Kien said, stressing due attention will be paid to developing agricultural processing industry and finished goods to better the products’ value and their competitive edge in the market.

Kien said along with support policies for local production, the province will improve technical services to promote mechanisation of agriculture, particularly post-harvest processing and preservation.

Investment promotion will be given priority so as to attract investment in supporting industries for footwear, garment-textile, electronics and engineering sectors, helping local producers and exporters improve their products’ competitiveness.

On the other, the province encourages local businesses to develop materials zones to ensure stable input for production, apply advanced technology to better products’ quality, while building brands to gain foothold in the market.

According to the Department of Industry and Trade, the province is now housing 40 export firms, including 15 foreign-invested businesses.

During 2015-2020, the locality’s export revenue rose significantly, from 302 million USD in 2015 to 570.5 million USD five years later. The North America accounted for the lion’s share of the province’s export, accounting for 37 percent of the total shipments, followed by Europe (31 percent), and Asia (29 percent)./.