HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko and his delegation on Friday attended the signing ceremony of business co-operation contracts in the northern province of Hưng Yên.

Under the contract, Vietnamese and Belarusian firms will collaborate on setting up a joint auto venture and a dairy factory in Hưng Yên.

The province is the first destination selected by the Belarusian government to start Maz Asia joint venture on manufacturing trucks and special-purpose vehicles worth US$60 million in Kim Động District.

At the signing ceremony, representatives of the Belarusian delegation said they wanted to carry out a number of other projects, including a joint venture on bus assembly in Việt Nam, in which they would prioritise Hưng Yên Province.

At the same time, Belarusian businesses will set up a dairy production factory with a capacity of 100-200 tonnes of milk per day.

Semashko said the signing of free trade agreements had opened up opportunities for cooperation between Việt Nam and Belarus.

He hoped the economy of the two countries would perform well and support each other in various fields. The two sides need to set up joint ventures to produce goods based on the principle of mutual benefit, he said.

Hưng Yên Party Secretary Đỗ Tiến Sỹ highly appreciated the achievements of the Belarusian economy, especially in the field of automobile industry, agriculture, dairy food processing and agricultural products.

He expected Belarus to invest in high-tech projects in the province, promoting local development.

Nguyễn Văn Phong, chairman of Hưng Yên People’s Committee, talked about the highlights and advantages of the province. Hưng Yên has focused on investment in infrastructure and planning of industrial clusters and parks to create favourable conditions to attract investment, he said.

The province has 11 industrial parks, attracting more than 1,700 foreign and domestic projects with a total registered capital of more than US$4.48 billion.

Phong expected Belarusian businesses to pay attention to and study investment in a fertiliser factory in Hưng Yên, in addition to training skilled labourers for the automobile manufacturing and assembling factory and diary production project, besides introducing some special agricultural products of Hưng Yên in the Belarusian market.

He said the province would create favourable conditions and give the best incentive for the projects to help them become operational soon and achieve high efficiency. — VNS