Iran, Vietnam set to expand economic ties, boost trade turnover
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quok Dawn has expressed his country’s interest in boosting economic ties with Iran, saying that there is high level of political will for expansion of the bilateral cooperation, the Iranian media reported.
Addressing the Iran-Vietnam business forum held in Tehran recently, Le Quok Dawn also said that “the current limiting barriers must be removed in order for the volume of trade between the two countries to reach the $2 billion goal.”
Iran and Vietnam are considering signing a preferential trade agreement with this regard.
Furthermore, facilitating visa issuance for Iranian businessmen by the Vietnamese Embassy in Tehran was one of the main issues explored by the two countries’ private sector representatives in the forum.
Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Deputy Head for International Affairs Mohammad-Reza Karbasi, Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quok Dawn, Vietnamese Ambassador in Tehran Nguyen Yen, and Head of Iran-Vietnam Joint Chamber of Commerce Mostafa Mousavi attended the forum.
Speaking in the event, Karbasi stressed that both Iranian and Vietnamese government officials are seeking improvement of economic relations along with good political ties.
“Vietnam is a member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and Iran is an ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization) member, while both countries are part of the Eurasian Economic Agreement, so they could help each other entering into the mentioned markets”, Iranian official said.
Pointing to the fact that the volume of trade between Iran and Vietnam decreased by 30 percent last year, Karbasi noted that the two sides should take necessary measures to identify and facilitate the development of trade.
The two sides also underlined bartering trade as a good solution for tackling the banking problems between the two countries.
Diplomatic relations between Iran and Vietnam were established in 1973.
Three Iranian presidents (Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in 1995, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2012, Hassan Rouhani in 2016) have visited the country, situated on the eastern part of Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia.
During Rouhani's visit the two nations pledged to boost future trade to $2 billion.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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