Vietnam, Ukraine beef up trade cooperation

Vietnam and Ukraine have discussed measures to remove hurdles and facilitate bilateral trade cooperation at the 15th session of Vietnam-Ukraine Inter-Governmental Commission for Economic, Trade and Science and Technology Cooperation.

The signing ceremony of the Memoranda of Understanding on stock exchange

During the session held via video conference on January 25, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An noted despite impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-way trade in 2020 increased considerably compared to that of 2019.

Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs show bilateral trade last year hit 478.33 million USD, a year-on-year increase of 29.48 percent. Of the total, Vietnamese exports to Ukraine brought back 284.8 million USD, up 15.04 percent, while imports from Ukraine rose 58.81 percent to 193.5 million USD.

An, who co-chaired the session, suggested that both sides work closely together to create a favourable legal framework for key Vietnamese farm products such as seafood, meat, and fresh fruits to access the Ukrainian market more easily, and similarly for key Ukrainian goods such as cereals, meat and milk on the other way.

For his part, Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Taras Kachka proposed that both sides enter into a free trade agreement (FTA) to enable their businesses to enjoy tax preferences in their import-export activities.

Ukraine and Vietnam should soon complete a feasibility study of the FTA based on a joint study done in 2014, he said.

According to the official, in its foreign policy orientations in 2021, Ukraine plans to promote cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region and hopes to accelerate FTA negotiations with Vietnam, China and Indonesia.

During the session, both sides also examined the potential for bilateral cooperation in other fields such as diplomacy, finance, industry, agriculture, science – technology, especially space science, environmental resources and health.

The two signed the minutes of the session and witnessed the signing of two Memoranda of Understanding on stock exchange and space research cooperation./.

VNA