Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizade has said his country and Vietnam need to focus their cooperation on economy and trade, especially oil and gas exploration and processing, so as to spur two-way trade in the years to come.

Meeting with visiting Politburo member and permanent member of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee’s Secretariat Le Hong Anh on October 14, the PM highly valued Vietnam’s major socio-economic achievements and said the two countries see a great prospect for further collaboration.

He suggested both sides carry out cooperation programmes in education-training, culture and tourism, thus helping foster their traditional relations.

He also urged for the establishment of an inter-governmental committee on economic-trade and scientific-technological cooperation which was agreed by the two countries’ leaders.

At a reception for the Vietnamese official, Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Osadov said Azerbaijan always treasures its relations with Asian-Pacific nations, including Vietnam, expressing his hope for the country’s increasing growth and status in the region and the world at large.

Although bilateral economic-trade ties have witnessed observable strides over the past years, they still see great potential to grow in the future, he added, noting that the setting up of friendship parliamentarians’ groups in the two countries will lay a firm foundation for strengthening legislative affiliation.

At the meetings, Politburo member Le Hong Anh informed the hosts of Vietnam’s situation, adding that his country will host the 132nd General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-132) and relating meetings in Hanoi next year.-VNA