Coffee is among the main agricultural products Vietnam exports to Russia (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
(MARD) and the Russian Ministry of Agriculture held the second meeting of the
countries’ agricultural working group and an agricultural business forum via
videoconference on April 22.
MARD
Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien called on both sides to push ahead with further
opening their countries’ markets to each other’s agricultural products and work
towards mutual recognition so as to reduce barriers and the time needed to
license fisheries and animal farming businesses.
This
is the foundation for Vietnamese and Russian enterprises to continue promoting
trade and fully optimise preferential treatment under the free trade agreement
between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), he said.
The
official noted that the countries’ agricultural cooperation is focusing on
trade.
Bilateral
trade averaged 4.5 billion USD annually between 2018 and 2020, about 18 – 20
percent of which, equivalent to 900 million USD, came from the trading of farm
produce – a relatively modest figure compared to the countries’ economic
potential and comprehensive strategic partnership.
Vietnam
mainly exports coffee, aquatic products, vegetables, and fruit to Russia while
mostly importing wheat, aquatic products, wood, rubber, and recently pork from
the latter.
Tien
held that as agricultural products of Vietnam and Russia do not directly
compete with but are complementary to each other, the two sides should
capitalise on their own advantages and strong products to achieve the trade
target of 10 billion USD in the near future.
With
139 projects worth 943.77 million USD, Russia ranked 25th among the
144 countries and territories investing in Vietnam as of December 2020.
Meanwhile, Vietnam had 25 investment projects worth nearly 3 billion USD in
Russia.
He
asked Russia to work closely with Vietnam to foster partnerships in
agricultural investment, as well as in the application of new and advanced
technology to agricultural and aquatic processing so as to reduce production
cost and enhance competitiveness.
The
two sides should also coordinate to organise both online and offline events to
promote trade and deal with technical obstacles, the deputy minister added.
Russian
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sergey Levin said despite numerous difficulties
caused by the pandemic’s impacts, the countries have maintained frequent
meetings on trade and investment.
He
also affirmed the potential and prospect of agricultural cooperation and trade,
noting that his country wishes to develop bilateral ties.
Russia
will send a representative to its embassy in Vietnam to strengthen trade links
in the time to come, he added.
At
the event, the Miratorg group of Russia and the Huong Viet company of Vietnam
signed a memorandum of understanding under which the former will supply meat
and wheat products for Vietnam, and the latter aquatic, coffee, cashew, and
dried fruit products for Russia./.