Hundreds of Vietnamese and Russian businesses flocked to a forum in Hanoi on October 6 to seek information about potential and opportunities in each other’s market.

The forum was jointly organized by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Trade (VCCI), Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development and the Trade Mission of Russia in Vietnam.

Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu underlined the strong development of economic ties between the two countries over recent years with many cooperative projects in key fields such as energy including nuclear energy for peaceful purpose, transport and telecommunications.

The first six months of this year saw 101 Russian investment projects worth a total 2 billion USD licensed in Vietnam, while Vietnamese investors poured around 2.5 billion USD in Russia, according to the deputy minister.

He added that however, bilateral trade still failed to match both sides’ potential.

Sharing this opinion, VCCI representatives said despite a rapid growth, two way trade between Vietnam and Russia, which almost reached 4 billion USD last year and 1.52 billion USD in the first seven months of this year, accounted for only 0.5 percent of Russia’s total foreign trade.

According to VCCI Vice Chairman Doan Duy Khuong, once the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan is signed, it will create a breakthrough in bilateral trade and help the two countries achieve the goal of raising two-way trade to 7 billion USD in 2015 and 10 billion USD in 2020.

Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Aleksei Likhachev said Vietnam is considered a good base for Russian businesses to enter the Asia-Pacific region. He added that Russia will invite more Vietnamese companies to its fairs and allow more Vietnamese exporters to ship their goods to Russia, in order to further expand trade ties.-VNA