Vietnam, Belarus look to boost economic links

Minsk (VNA) – Vietnam welcomes and will create favourable conditions for Belarusian enterprises to expand investment and business in Vietnam, said President Tran Dai Quang.

Addressing a Vietnam-Belarus economic seminar in Minsk, Belarus, on June 27 as part of his ongoing visit to the country, the Vietnamese State leader affirmed Belarus is a priority partner in Vietnam’s partnership with the Eurasian Economic Union.

The two countries’ business communities are not only part of the economic cooperation but also should initiate ideas, creating impetus for bilateral trade and investment links, thus strengthening relations between Vietnam and Belarus, he suggested.

Introducing Belarusian firms to Vietnam’s potential, President Quang said after nearly 30 years of high and stable economic growth, Vietnam has become an economy worth more than 220 billion USD, and run as an open economy with trade scale 1.6 times greater than GDP.

Vietnam has attracted more than 300 billion USD of foreign direct investment from 119 partners, becoming an important link in the global value chain, especially in electronics, garments and textiles and agriculture. 

The country has invested in 72 countries and territories with total registered capital of 21 billion USD, in the fields of mining, telecommunications, agro-forestry, IT, finance-banking and services.

According to President Quang, the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union, which took effect in late 2016, opens new prospects in economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.  

Vietnam hopes to receive more investment from the Eastern European nation, especially in Belarus’s strong fields such as automobile and automotive components manufacture, mechanics and industrial devices, he said.

The Vietnamese State also encourages local enterprises to invest in Belarus in IT, consumer products and agriculture, he said, affirming that Vietnam will make it easy for Belarusian firms operating in industry, mechanics, energy and minerals to bring their products to Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in his opening remarks at the event, praised Vietnam’s dynamic development, saying the Belarusian Government will support Vietnamese enterprises to enhance investment and business in the country.

Belarus wishes to boost industrial production cooperation with Vietnam, and the country will establish a tractor and power excavator manufacturing joint venture in Vietnam in the future, he revealed.

He said that many leading Belarusian hi-tech firms plan to launch plants in industrial parks in Vietnam to manufacture auxiliary equipment and that Belarusian firms are willing to share experience in developing metro systems and underground projects.

Belarus considers Vietnam a bridge to reinforce its position in Southeast Asia, thus bringing its products and services to other ASEAN nations, and Vietnamese firms can use the Belarus market as a gateway to Europe, Lukashenko stressed.

He also called on Vietnamese businesses to invest in, produce and sell their products in his country.

Vietnamese companies can set up joint ventures with Belarusian counterparts in producing dried-milk products, processing seafood, tea and coffee, producing gas from crude oil, developing ICT and tourism, he noted.

The seminar brought together nearly 500 businesses from the two countries.-VNA