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Vietnamese PM hails upwards dynamics in relations with Russia

In 2018, bilateral trade continued to demonstrate upwards dynamics, reaching 4.5 billion US dollars

HANOI, May 20. /TASS/. The free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union of 2016 has helped Vietnam to boost its trade with Russia, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in an interview with TASS on Monday ahead of his official visit to Moscow due on May 20-23.

"The free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union that came into force in October 2016 has given a major impetus to sustainable growth of Vietnamese-Russian trade," he said, adding that in 2017 bilateral trade grew by 31% on 2016 and reached 3.55 billion US dollars.

In 2018, trade between the two countries continued to demonstrate upwards dynamics, reaching 4.5 billion US dollars, or up by 28.6% on 2017. In the first quarter of 2019, bilateral trade was 1.13 billion US dollars, increasing by 10.65% on the same period last year.

The Vietnamese prime minister also noted that along with growing trade, investment cooperation between the two countries continues to expand, with new large-scale projects emerging in the oil and gas, agrarian and energy sectors.

"Agriculture is among the most promising spheres of cooperation with the biggest potential in terms of possible growth of trade and investments," he stressed. Of special note, in his words, is the project of Vietnam’s TH corporation on the construction of a milk and dairy cluster in the Kaluga region in central European Russia. The cost of the project exceeds 2.7 billion US dollars.

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