Vietnam treasures and hopes to intensify its cooperation with Iran at international forums, said President Truong Tan Sang.

Sang made the assertion on May 14 when he received Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mehdi Ghazanfari, who is paying a working visit to Vietnam on the occasion of the 40 th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.

At the reception, Sang highly valued Iran ’s remarkable socio-economic development, and stressed that both sides need to seek ways to further tap their potential in economics, trade, culture and society.

The Vietnamese host agreed with the joint commercial cooperative methods proposed by the Iranian side, and recommended that the two nations work together to increase two-way trade turnover.

For his part, the Iranian guest briefed the President on the commitments with Vietnam ’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and affirmed that his country is willing to cooperate with Vietnam to boost bilateral trade turnover to 500 million USD in the foreseeable future.

He suggested that Vietnam adopt preferential incentives to export its agricultural produce such as rice and rubber to Iran , and help the Iranian side penetrate Vietnamese markets with its key products, including oil, gas and wheat.

He said he hopes that Vietnam will put forth cooperation policies in tourism, science and technology so that more Iranian entrepreneurs and tourists come to Vietnam .

Earlier, the Iranian Minister and Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat co-chaired the 8 th meeting of the Vietnam-Iran Joint Committee on Economics and Trade, where they agreed to accelerate cooperation to bring two-way trade to 500 million USD per year.

The two sides reached a consensus on the early signing of an agreement on double taxation avoidance and a customs cooperation agreement, saying that they will clarify payment mechanisms and boost investment promotion in the future.

The Vietnamese side committed to supporting Iranian investors who want to learn more about the Vietnamese market, while the Iranian side is willing to send technicians to Vietnam to help the country, especially in the mining sector.

The two ministers signed the minutes of the meeting with new initiatives and commitments.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Vinh Ai and Vice President of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation Karim Najafi Barzegar also signed the minutes on cultural cooperation.-VNA