VN, Kazakhstan Promote Trade Linkages

The Vietnam-Kazakhstan Intergovernmental Committee on November 12 in Ha Noi convened its sixth session under the co-chair of Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Duong Quang and Kazakhstani Deputy FM Kazakhstan S.Sarubai.

The two sides reviewed the implementation of their action plan for 2011-13 and achievements in bilateral cooperation in economics, trade, science and technology, and set out specific measures and solutions to strengthen ties in the coming time.

Deputy Minister Quang highly spoke of the developments in the two countries’ political and diplomatic relations following the official visit to Vietnam by Kazakhstani President N.Nazabaev in late 2011 and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang’ s state visit to Kazakhstan in September 2012. These events generated an impetus for trade linkages between the two sides to grow further.

For his part, Deputy FM Sarubai announced that Kazakhstan had decided to open an embassy in Vietnam in 2014.

The two sides are positively negotiating for a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Belarus-Kazakhstan-Russia Customs Union.

This year, Air Astana, the national carrier of Kazakhstan opened a direct air route between Almaty and Ho Chi Minh City and worked with Vietnam Airlines to facilitate cooperation.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, two-way trade between the two countries reached US$ 85.6 million in 2012, up 176 percent against 2011. In the first half of 2013, trade volume touched US$ 74.7 million, soaring by 200 percent over the same period last year.