Vietnam is ready to provide Bangladesh with rice in the long term to help it ensure food security, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

He made the statement at his reception for Muhamad Abduz Razzaque, Bangladeshi Minister of Food and Disaster Management in Hanoi on April 18.

The PM also affirmed that Vietnam will strongly promote cooperation with Bangladesh in the fields of economy, trade and investment.

He expressed his hope that the visit by the Bangladeshi minister will open up new prospects of the two countries’ cooperation in trade and agriculture.

PM Dung highly valued the results of the minister’s working sessions with relevant Vietnamese ministries and departments, especially the signing of a memorandum of understanding on trade and food.

Noting the two-way trade of 400 million USD last year as still modest and far from the two countries’ potential and strengths, he urged the Vietnam-Bangladesh Intergovernmental Committee to work out concrete and practical solutions to raise the trade.

Minister Razzaque underlined that Vietnam is a major trading partner that can help Bangladesh ensure food security and invited Vietnamese businesses to invest in farm produce processing, garment, and footwear in his country./.