Vietnam, UAE target 10 billion USD in trade before 2020

Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed the target of 10 billion USD in two-way trade turnover before 2020.

The target was set during the third session of Vietnam-UAE Inter-Governmental Committee, which took place in Hanoi on May 10-11.

At the event (Photo: chinhphu.vn)

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh led the Vietnamese delegation while the UAE’s delegation was headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

At the meeting, the two sides agreed to bolster the exchange of high-level visits while supporting each other at regional and international forums as well as in matters of mutual concerns.

They also consented to facilitate business partnership of their enterprises in numerous areas, including oil and gas, renewable energy, metallurgy, ship repair, chemicals and mechanical engineering, among others.

The two countries will speed up negotiation on supplementary regulations to their investment treaty as well as on cooperation agreements on customs, banking and aviation in order to creating favourable conditions for trade and investment activities.

Bilateral trade has been growing very strongly in the past five years, with Vietnam’s trade with the UAE predicted to increase by 15 percent to seven billion USD in 2016.

About 5.7 billion USD of the UAE’s 6.1 billion USD trade with Vietnam in 2015 came through Vietnamese import of electronic goods, computer products and consumer goods.

According to the Vietnam’s Trade Office in Dubai, the UAE imported about 250 million USD worth of food from Vietnam in the same year.

The UAE is also benefiting from the relationship, particularly through the burgeoning number of tourists from Vietnam. In 2013, 500 Vietnamese nationals visited the UAE. This increased to 1,200 in 2014 and leapt to 25,000 last year.