Vietnam vows to boost bilateral trade with Russia

VIETNAM: Vietnamese businesses said that they are keen on expanding trade with Russia, aiming to lift the two- way trade to 2 billion U.S. dollars by 2012, Vietnam Investment Review reported Wednesday.

The remarks were made at a recently-ended seminar held by Vietnam's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in the central Can Tho province.

In 2008, the two-way trade between the two countries was 1.64 billion U.S. dollars, up 62 percent year-on-year. Of which, Vietnam earned 672 million U.S. dollars from exports to Russia, said Nguyen Chi Tam, head of the Europe Market Department under Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade.

In the first half of this year, the bilateral trade reached over 820 million U.S. dollars despite the impacts of the global economic downturn, said Tam.

Vietnam's current export items to Russia include garment, footwear, seafood, handicraft products, fruit and vegetables. The country's imports from Russia are mainly steel, chemical products, fertilizers, equipments and spare parts.

Despite of fine development in economic cooperation between Vietnam and Russia in recent years, the cooperation has not matched potentials of the two sides, said Tam. Hanoi, Wednesday, Xinhua