Business executives and diplomats from Vietnam and Romania discussed ways of boosting trade relations on both bilateral and multi-lateral basis at a business forum in Hanoi on October 29.

The Romanian Ambassador Dumitru Olaru said at the forum that many opportunities are available in the Romanian economy for Vietnamese businesses from various industries that the ASEAN member nation is strong in.

Meanwhile, the Head of the General Department of Foreign Trade under the Romanian Ministry of Medium and Small-Sized Enterprises, Trade and the Environment, Radu Zaharia, said that as an EU member, Romania will offer new opportunities to foreign investors, including Vietnam, to promote production and export to markets that have signed free trade pacts with the EU.

Zaharia is heading up a Romanian business delegation on a five-day visit to Vietnam, from October 28, to explore investment opportunities. They are focusing on engineering, electricity generation, wooden products, steel production and information technology.

For Vietnam, the Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Doan Duy Khuong, said the two economies have different strengths that may be able to help each other and encouraged both parties to gear up cooperation in various fields.

VCCI executives said that Romania would act as a gateway for Vietnamese products to access the EU while Vietnam could work as a conduit for Romanian products to flow into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Romania has surged 80 percent year on year to 79 million USD in 2008, even during the global economic downturn. The figure surpassed 66 million USD for the first eight months of this year, of which Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus with almost 50 million USD in exports./.