Vietnamese enterprises should expand their operations and increase their presence on the Russian market despite the challenges involved, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said in a seminar in Moscow on September 15.

Russia is working to intensify production, gradually reduce its dependence on Europe and boost cooperation with Asian countries, including Vietnam, its comprehensive strategic cooperation partner.

Additionally, Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are entering the seventh round of negotiations on a free trade agreement, which is expected to be signed early 2015, thus facilitating Vietnamese businesses’ ventures in Russia.

Some 80 Vietnamese businesses operating at home and in Russia attended the seminar, which aimed to facilitate the exchange of opinions on the opportunities, potential and advantages of investing in and exporting goods to Russia. The seminar also came up with a number of effective measures to strengthen investment and trade between the two respective countries.

At the event, representatives of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) pledged to provide a credit package worth 3 trillion VND (141 million USD) for export to Russia and another package of 50 million USD for a light industrial zone project in the country.-VNA