Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh (L) and Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov at the meeting (Photo: VNA) Moscow (VNA) – Vietnam and Azerbaijan agreed to maintain meetings oftheir Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic-Commercial andScientific-Technological Cooperation to bolster bilateral collaboration.
The agreement was made at the second meeting of the cooperation mechanism heldin Baku, Azerbaijan on June 20. The event was attended by Minister of Industryand Trade Tran Tuan Anh, Vietnamese Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ngo Duc Manh andrepresentatives from relevant ministries and sectors, and Azerbaijani EnergyMinister Parviz Shahbazov and representatives from relevant agencies.
At the meeting, both sides noted the need to enhance delegation exchanges tobolster mutual understanding and promote economic-trade development.
Besides boosting trade, the two countries should study collaboration in thefields of energy and oil, focusing on support for the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group(PetroVietnam)’s partners in Azerbaijan, they noted.
During his stay in Azerbaijan, Minister Anh met with Azerbaijani Prime MinisterNovruz Mamedov, during which the latter expressed his wish to step up ties withVietnam.
Vietnam and Azerbaijan established diplomatic relations in 1992. Statisticsfrom the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that two-way trade in2017 reached 251.75 million USD, of which Vietnam exported nearly 1.3 millionUSD worth of products and spent 250.45 million USD purchasing Azerbaijaniproducts.
Vietnam’s key shipments to Azerbaijan include telephones, spare parts, andcomputer products. The country imports crude oil and oil products from theEuropean country.
Azerbaijan’s economy heavily relies on oil and gas production, oil refineries,chemicals, manufacturing, mining and the food industry. In recent years, thecountry has enjoyed robust economic growth despite regional and globalinstability. Last year, Azerbaijan’s GDP stood at 41.2 billion USD and theincome per capita was 4,200 USD.-VNA
VNA
