MOSCOW – Việt Nam always welcomes and wishes to receive investments from Russia, especially in the fields of energy, oil and gas exploitation and refineries, industrial equipment and auto manufacturing, President Trần Đại Quang said during a Việt Nam-Russia economic seminar in Moscow yesterday.

At the event, the Vietnamese State leader called on Russia to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese firms to seek business opportunities in agriculture, food processing, IT, consumer goods, services, real estate and mining.

He expressed his hope that the free trade agreement (FTA) between Việt Nam and the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), which took effect in October last year, will enable Việt Nam’s textile products, processed agro-aquaculture products and seafood, wooden products, electronics and consumer goods to access the Russian market.

He also underlined the importance of the two sides’ business communities in promoting bilateral cooperation, urging them to prepare for new opportunities.

Vietnamese and Russian businesses should share new ideas and creative solutions with each other and become pioneering forces in fostering economic links, contributing to reinforcing and deepening the historic friendship between the two nations, President Quang said.

Việt Nam will make it easy for Russian businesses to seek and set up investment and trade ties with Vietnamese partners, he added.

In his speech, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin stressed potential for the two countries to expand economic and trade co-operation, especially in energy, industry, transport, oil and gas.

The Việt Nam-EAEU FTA creates a good motivation for stepping up economic, trade and investment links between Việt Nam and Russia, he stressed, calling on both sides to focus on developing new investment projects in the near future.

Agreements signed during President Quang’s visit to Russia will create an impetus for bilateral cooperation, he said, affirming that Russia is willing to facilitate the import of Việt Nam’s fruits and aquatic products and support the development of Vietnamese electricity and mining industries.

He expressing his belief that newly-signed projects will help lift two-way trade between Russia and Việt Nam.

The minister asked the two sides to outline a medium-term economic, trade and investment cooperation programme, affirming that the cooperation between the two countries’ businesses will contribute to developing the Russia-Việt Nam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in a sustainable manner.

The seminar, jointly hosted by the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, saw the participation of representatives of 500 enterprises from the two countries. — VNS