Ukraine seeks closer trade ties with Vietnam
Despite the geographical divide, the desire to accelerate bilateral relations had brought Vietnam and Ukraine closer, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said at a business conference in Hanoi on November 15.
During the event with the participation of 40 Ukrainian companies, Azarov said he believes that two-way trade is yet to the match the two countries’ potential and is likely to increase significantly in the future.
Besides trade, he also outlined industry, aircraft manufacturing, energy, shipbuilding, pharmaceutical and machinery as other promising sectors for bilateral cooperation.
" This is the right time for Ukrainian enterprises to make further investments in Vietnam as the country is on the way to restructuring its economy which will result in many new opportunities with Vietnamese counterparts," said Vietnam's Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman, Vu Tien Loc.
Loc suggested the two governments should consider negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and Ukraine while encouraging airlines to open direct flights connecting the two countries.
More favourable conditions should also be created in the near further in order to facilitate the exports of Vietnamese agricultural products to the Ukrainian market, he said.
Bilateral ties have developed significantly due to frequent trips made by high-level leaders and increasing efforts to speed up trade and investment promotion activities in each country, said Vietnam's Minister of Industry and Trade, Vu Huy Hoang.
"However, there is room for us to further promote our relations," Hoang said, calling on enterprises to foster trade and investment promotion and pay more attention to marketing their products.
Ukrainian enterprises expressed their wishes to cooperate with their Vietnamese partners in the machinery, pharmaceutical, textile and garment, IT, finance and tourism sectors.
Two-way trade reached approximately US$300 million in 2011, up 17 percent year-on-year. Trade hit US$198 million in the first nine months of 2012, surging 15 percent against the same period last year. Of the sum, US$153 million came from Vietnamese exports, mainly seafood, agricultural products, handicrafts, furniture, garments and footwear.
Ukrainian businesses have to date pumped US$30 million into Vietnam while Vietnamese firms have invested US$27 million in Ukraine.