Recently, Dr Doan Duy Khuong, Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), had a meeting with a Belarusian business delegation, led by Boleslav K.Pirshtuk, Vice President of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BelCCI)- the Gomel Branch. This is one of the activities under the cooperation agreement between the chambers of the two countries, which was signed in 1998.
The visit of the Belarusian delegation to Vietnam aims to create opportunities for businesses of the both countries to meet and exchange directly to propose the business and investment cooperation to build effective and successful collaboration in the near future. The sectors the Belarusian enterprises want to cooperate with Vietnamese enterprises include steel materials for construction, oil and gas industry, rubber, pipe production, hydraulic machines, specialised machinery and equipment for industrial and agricultural areas, confectionery manufacturing, education and training, and import and export of general trade.
In addition, the Belarusian enterprises want to open the dialogues for the purposes of legally ensuring trade cooperation and bilateral investment between Belarus and Vietnam and learning Vietnam's experience in establishing the special economic zones and industrial parks in Vietnam.
At the meeting, Boleslav K.Pirshtuk said that after the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of the Customs Union of Russia- Belarus- Kazakhstan is probably signed at the end of 2014, the Vietnamese exporters could take biggest advantages of accessing a new market with much larger tax incentives.
According to Vice President Doan Duy Khuong, Vietnam always appreciates good relations and expects to promote cooperation with Belarus. Vietnam also expect Belarus continues to support and strengthen the multilateral cooperation between Vietnam and Belarus. Dr Khuong also indicated that VCCI will support and create the most favourable conditions for the Belarusian enterprises to invest in in Vietnam.
Vietnam and Belarus have built up a good relation of traditional friendship and multi- faceted cooperation. The two countries have signed a number of agreements to create a favourable legal conditions for the promotion of bilateral cooperation. Especially in 2008, the bilateral relations of the two countries thrived in every sector, notably in April 2008, President of Republic of Belarus A.G.Lukashenko had a second official visit to Vietnam; two countries signed 13 cooperation agreements to continue to strengthen the legal basis for bilateral relations and kick off the implementation of the Vietnam- Belarus cooperation programme by 2010.
According to statistics, in recent years, the bilateral trade turnover of Vietnam and Belarus has increased but not stable (48 percent increased in 2008, compared with 2007; 85 percent decreased in 2009, compared with 2008; 31 percent increased in 2010, compared to 2009; and 111 percent increased in 2011, compared with 2010).
In 2012, the import turnover of Vietnam and Belarus reached over US$174.4 million, down 17.1 percent compared with 2012. In particular, the Belarus's exports reached US$167.1 million and Vietnam's exports accounted for US$7.3 million.Vietnam's trade deficit in 2012 from Belarus was US$159.8 million.
In the first quarter of 2013, the imports of the Belarusian goods to Vietnam reached US$89.7 million, up 248.7 percent from the same period in 2012.
The structure of exports and imports between Vietnam and Belarus is complementary to each other.The Vietnam's exports to Belarus market include agricultural products, furniture, rice, textiles, natural rubber, footwear, cashew nuts, pepper, and tea while Belarus exports mainly potash, machinery and transport vehicles to the Vietnamese markets.
Quynh Chi
Vietnamese
