Belarusian companies are urged to enhance their presence in Vietnam to take advantage of the promising market of approximately 90 million people during a business conference held on Nov. 30 in the capital.

Vietnam would also be an effective gate for the firms to further penetrate into the vast ASEAN and Chinese markets, said General Secretary of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Pham Thi Thu Hang.

In addition to bilateral trade, which has grown significantly in recent years from a modest 38 million USD in 2006 to 100 million USD in 2010, the two countries have also co-operated in other sectors such as oil and gas, forestry processing, automobiles and training.

These co-operative relations, however, were yet to match the potential and expectations of the two nations, Hang said, adding that the two business communities would play an important role in promoting the relations.

VCCI and the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry would continue to organise business matching conferences and other trade and investment promotion activities in a move to create opportunities for business to seek new co-operation outlets, Hang said.

Belarus had always paid attention to fostering industrial development with a focus on energy, machinery engineering, chemical and wood processing, said Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Myatlicov Michael Michilovich.

Similarities between the two countries would open up more successful co-ordination in the near future, he said.

Belarusian firms at the event expressed their hopes to establish new partnerships with Vietnamese firms in several sectors, including mining and construction, automobiles, seafood, agriculture and wood processing. /.