During a visit to Israel, Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Economic Affairs Vuong Dinh Hue expressed his country’s desire to strengthen ties with Israel.
In a meeting with Israeli Minister of Economy Aryeh Deri, Hue expressed his belief that the two countries have a huge potential for cooperation, especially as it pertains to the fields of science-technology, agriculture, security, trade and investment. Israel also agreed to share its experience in building startups and technology incubators.
Vuong Dinh Hue, heading high ranking Vietnamese economic delegation to Israel, said that Vietnam and Israel should make more efforts to expand their trade to US$2 billion in 2015, and higher in the following years. At a working session with Israeli Minister of the Economy Aryeh Deri on June 28, the visiting Vietnamese official said his country wishes to intensify multifaceted cooperation with Israel, especially in economics.
Bilateral trade exceeded US$1 billion in 2014 and shot up over 80% in the first quarter of 2015, compared to the same period last year, Hue noted, adding that the two countries hold massive collaboration potential, particularly in science-technology, agriculture, security-defense, trade and investment.
To reach the 2015 bilateral trade target, he asked Israel to create optimal conditions to import Vietnamese tea, coffee, rice, seafood, handicrafts and natural rubber.
In return, Vietnam is willing to facilitate Israel’s export of hi-tech and quality products, transfer of science-technology, and funding of production activities in the Southeast Asian country, he added.
Hue said the two sides should also foster partnerships in other potential fields such as energy, information technology, new material production and consumer goods and food industries.
He urged the rapid completion of a joint research report on the feasibility of negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) and asked Israel to recognize Vietnam’s full market economy to enable FTA talks to commence as soon as possible.
For his part, Israeli Economy Minister Aryeh Deri noted the substantial progress seen in bilateral relations since the countries set up diplomatic ties in July 1993 and pledged his utmost efforts to enhance their multifaceted cooperation.
He agreed with the Vietnamese side’s proposals and said the two governments should create policies supporting agricultural affiliation, especially in copyright registration, intellectual property and investment funds.
