HÀ NỘI Viet Nam News -— Bangladesh and Việt Nam are seeking to develop improved financial products and logistic services to facilitate trade to reach a value of US$1 billion this year, a conference heard yesterday.

Hoàng Quang Phòng, deputy chairman of the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said at the conference jointly held with Bangladesh International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) that international payments and logistics services played critical roles in global economic integration to reduce the risk of international commerce.

Of these, the use of a letter of credit (LC) was the most prominent and widely applied for various sectors in global trade, Phòng said.

Developing trade finance products and logistics services was of pressing importance now since bilateral trade between Việt Nam and the South Asian country saw a drop last year.

Ambassador of Bangladesh to Việt Nam, Mohammad Shahab Ullah, said at the conference that the two-way trade drop was from $758 million in 2014 to $600 million last year. There was large untapped potential, still, he was quoted as saying by a news story on VCCI’s website.

He said he expected more Vietnamese firms to enter Bangladesh to seek business opportunities and the two countries would join hands to simplify banking procedures for trade facilitation.

At the conference, Vũ Quang Minh, director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Economic Department, said that the trade framework must be improved to meet the co-operation demand between the two countries.

Minh said that with an advantageous sea line for logistics services, two-way trade was expected to reach $1 billion this year.

ICC’s chairman Mahbuhur Rahman said differences in banking, import and export procedures remain between the two countries. He said that the joint force between the two countries would tackle those problems to promote trade.

The two-day conference would also discuss international standard banking practice (ISBP), global trade finance, and American depositary receipts, in addition to dispute resolution alternatives.

At yesterday conference, Bangladesh and the Việt Nam International Arbitration Centre signed a co-operation agreement. — VNS