MOSCOW -- The central province of Thanh Hóa introduced its investment, trade and tourism opportunities to Russian firms during a conference held in Moscow on Monday. 

Trịnh Văn Chiến, Secretary of the Thanh Hóa Party Committee described the event as a good opportunity for the province to advertise advantages, saying that it marked a new milestone in co-operation between Thanh Hóa and Russia.

Vietnamese Ambassador in Russia Ngô Đức Mạnh agreed. He said the forum helped the two sides get a deeper understanding of each other’s potential and strengths, thus discovering new co-operation opportunities, contributing to deepening the bilateral ties between the two countries.

For his part, Vice President of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry Suren Vardanyan said that Moscow paid great attention to expanding collaboration with Việt Nam and Thanh Hóa province in particular, especially in economy, trade, healthcare, tourism and renewable energy.

Within the conference’s framework, a number of memorandums of understanding were signed between businesses of Việt Nam and Russia in tourism, culture, trade promotion, construction and investment.
Bilateral relations, especially in economy and trade, between the two nations have been growing strongly, especially since the Việt Nam-Eurasian Economic Union free trade agreement came into effect in 2016.

Last year, two-way trade reached US$4.57 billion, up 28 per cent year-on-year, statistics from the European-American Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed. 

Việt Nam’s exports to Russia topped $2.44 billion, a yearly rise of 13 per cent, while its imports were worth $2.1 billion, up 53.4 per cent year-on-year.

In the past four months of 2019, trade saw a year-on-year increase of 6 per cent to $1.52 billion.

The two nations have set a target to reach $10 billion in two-way trade by 2020.

As of June, Russia ranked 24th among 132 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam with 130 projects, totalling $954.4 million, mainly in the oil and gas and energy sectors.

Vietnamese companies have invested nearly $3 billion in more than 20 projects in Russia, the most notable being TH Group’s $2.7 billion in dairy farms. -- VNS