Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The first meeting of the Azerbaijan-Vietnam Intergovernmental Commission on economic, trade, scientific and technical cooperation was held in Hanoi on January 16.

The meeting discussed the current state of relations and prospects for cooperation between the two countries in a variety of fields.

Energy Minister Natig Aliyev was a co-chair of the Intergovernmental Commission on
behalf of Azerbaijan, while Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh was a co-chair on behalf of Vietnam.

The Vietnamese minister called the meeting very important in terms of further developing the relations between the two countries and expressed hope on the effectiveness of the meeting.

In turn, Aliyev called the first meeting of the Commission as a historic event.

Tuan Anh spoke about the rapid development of his country’s economy and invited Azerbaijan, including private business, to actively participate in the process, assuring that Vietnam has created favorable conditions for such cooperation.

Speaking about the importance of developing the bilateral cooperation, Aliyev pointed to the intensification of political dialogue. He mentioned that the visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Vietnam and the visit of the former President of Vietnam, Truong Tan Sang, to Azerbaijan gave impetus to efficient cooperation and opened new prospects for development of the relations.

The sides noted that the volume of bilateral trade between Vietnam and Azerbaijan showed positive signs of recovery in 2016, reaching $104.44 million including exports of Vietnamese goods to Azerbaijan - $5.14 million and import - $99.30 million.

They also pointed out the importance of implementing the agreements reached at this meeting, identified specific areas of cooperation and agreed to increase the number of mutual visits at all levels.

The ministers further stressed the importance of establishing direct contacts between the business circles of the two countries.

Following the meeting, the sides signed a protocol of the first meeting of the intergovernmental commission.

The cooperation between Baku and Hanoi is developing steadily in all spheres.
Memorandum of understanding, signed by Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and Vietnam Oil and Gas Group Petrovietnam, contributes to the development of energy cooperation between the sides.

The countries also have a potential for cooperation on alternative and renewable energy sources. Moreover, Vietnamese market is attractive for the export of Azerbaijan’s non-oil products.

But the Vietnamese government is considering opening an embassy in Baku with a view to give additional impetus to the development of the bilateral cooperation.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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