The Southeast Asian region has become as an attractive destination for Vietnamese hard currency earners as it currently makes up 20 percent of Vietnam's export earnings. In 2006, Vietnam raked in 6.3 billion USD worth in export value from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), nearly six-fold rise from the figure recorded in 1995, when the country joined the group.

The Trade Ministry's Multilateral Department reported that in the first half of this year, the country's export earnings from other ASEAN member countries surged 32 percent to 3.8 billion USD.

Crude oil and rice were the most favoured items by these markets, followed by electronic components, textile and garments, seafood, peanuts, coffees and rubber.

Recently, the Southeast Asian markets have started to open door wide for Vietnam's electrical cables, bicycles and spare parts, and children's toys.

According to the Trade Ministry, Singapore has for years retained its position as Vietnam's largest trader in the group and it continued to be the largest importer in the first six month of the year with 979 million USD.

In the period, Indonesia and Malaysia were the runners up with 766 million USD and 614 million USD, respectively.

Though earning remarkable exports revenue from other Southeast Asian countries, Vietnam has spent a larger sum in imports from these markets, which now accounted for 25 percent of the country's total import value.

In the first six months, the country imported 6.9 billion USD in goods, mainly machinery, equipment, fertilisers, chemicals and petroleum, from other Southeast Asian countries, which saw 18 percent up from the same period last year.

Source: Vietnamnet