Vietnam accounts for almost a third of Russian exports to Southeast Asia
Alexey Likhachev, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, took part in the first round of bilateral consultations on a mechanism for a preferential trade regime between Vietnam and Russia as part of the Russian–Vietnamese High-Level Working Group on Priority Investment Projects. The Vietnamese side was led by the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong.
Likhachev emphasized that the signing of the free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in May 2015 was an important milestone in Russian–Vietnamese relations. The agreement has already been ratified by Vietnam (in December 2015) and Kazakhstan (in February 2016).
He noted that in spite of the difficulties the Russian economy has faced over the past year, trade between the countries has shown an upward trend, rising by almost 4%. “Vietnam accounted for almost a third of Russia’s trade with Southeast Asia, representing 29% of exports and 28% of imports”, Likhachev added.
As for investment partnership, Likhachev noted that Russian–Vietnamese mutual investment now stands at around USD 4.5 billion. In 2015, following the 18th session of the Russian–Vietnamese Intergovernmental Commission, a list of priority investment projects was supplemented, with the total number of projects expanded to 20, 15 of which are Russian and five Vietnamese.
An analysis of progress on priority projects took place as part of the consultation, with a focus on further steps to streamline state support for investment projects planned in the oil and gas, energy production, and mechanical engineering sectors. “We hope that investment partnership between our countries will see new development”, Likhachev said.
Discussing the Working Group’s activities, the First Deputy Minister underlined the need to update bilateral cooperation to reflect the signature and entry into force of the free trade agreement. In his view, there is a clear case to review the question of creating a joint project development fund. “To achieve this, it would be possible to make use of the potential of the Vietnam–Russia Joint Venture Bank, and to bring Vietnamese financial institutions into the fund, either by way of direct financing or through the purchase of their bonds”, he said.
Furthermore, Likhachev reminded his colleagues of Russia’s plans to open a trading house in Vietnam. “I will not rule out the use of this new export support tool for, among other things, bringing greater scrutiny to the selection process for interesting new investment projects”, he said.
He invited those who attended the consultation to take part in the 2016 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Source: http://economy.gov.ru (Russia)
