The Chief Representative of the Russian Trade Office in Vietnam, Maxim Golikov, has suggested that Russia and Vietnam expand cooperation in trade and investment and carry out more policies to support businesses in order to gain sustainability in trade turnover.

Speaking at a press conference on Russia-Vietnam investment prospects in Hanoi on May 20, he stressed the need to focus on projects that boost socio-economic developments in the two nations, particularly those relating to new technologies.

He also told the media that investment attraction was one of the main issues mentioned at Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s working sessions with Vietnamese leaders during his official visit to Vietnam in April. More than a half of the eight cooperation documents signed at that time related to investment cooperation.

To achieve investment cooperation targets, the two countries have introduced new mechanisms, including the inter-governmental working group on prioritised investment projects. Additionally, the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, once effective, will create a systematic motivation for investors and new preferential policies for important investment projects, he added.

According to the official, economic-trade-investment ties between Vietnam and Russia have seen positive developments, with two-way trade reaching 2.59 billion USD in 2014.

Vietnam now runs 19 investment projects worth 2.47 billion USD in Russia, focusing on the fields of trade and oil and gas. Energy remains a strategic cooperation field, bringing about significant revenues for both sides.-VNA