Illustrative image (Source: Internet)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and Turkey agreed to strive for a two-way trade of 4
billion USD by 2020 during the seventh meeting of the Vietnam-Turkey Joint
Committee in Hanoi on July 13.
The
meeting was chaired by Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh
and Turkish Minister of Labour and Social Security Mehmet Muezzinoglu.
Muezzinoglu
suggested launching negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement while the
Vietnamese side asked Turkey to recognise Vietnam as a market economy and
minimise trade defence measures against Vietnam’s exports.
In
industry, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Agency for Regional
Industry Development and the Small and Medium Industry Development Organisation
of Turkey (KOSGEB) signed an action plan to continue promoting joint work in small
and medium-sized enterprise affairs.
As
regards investment, the two sides reached consensus on the contents of a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the management of economic,
industrial and processing zones.
They
also agreed on the contents of the MoU on customs cooperation between the Finance
Ministry and the Turkish Ministry of Customs and Trade.
Both
sides were unanimous on collaboration between the Directorate for Standards,
Metrology and Quality and the Turkish Standards Institution.
The
two countries are actively refining contents towards signing agreements on
statistics, science and technology, labour, education and training, culture,
tourism, health care, natural resources and the environment.
Collaboration
in energy, food processing, construction, machinery and equipment will also be
strengthened.
At
a ceremony to sign the minutes of the meeting in the afternoon, Minister Anh
said Vietnam and Turkey already signed agreements on aviation transport,
navigation and double taxation avoidance.
Turkey
launched direct flight services connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
In
the first five months this year, two-way trade between the two nations reached
724.6 million USD, 634.9 million USD of which was Vietnam’s exports, mostly
cell phones, fibers, computers, electronics and spare parts, rubber, machinery
and equipment, iron and steel, apparel, peppercorns, cashew nuts, wood and
wooden furniture, fisheries, footwear and handicraft items.-VNA