Vietnam and Israel should make more efforts to expand their trade to 2billion USD in 2015 and higher in the following years, said Chairman ofthe Party Central Committee’s Commission for Economic Affairs Vuong DinhHue.

At his working session with Israeli Ministerof the Economy Aryeh Deri on June 28, the visiting Vietnamese officialsaid his country wishes to intensify multifaceted cooperation withIsrael, especially in economics. Bilateral tradeexceeded 1 billion USD in 2014 and shot up over 80 percent in the firstquarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year, Hue noted, addingthat the two countries hold massive collaboration potential,particularly in science-technology, agriculture, security-defence, tradeand investment. To reach the 2015 trade target, heasked Israel to create optimal conditions for Vietnamese strengths liketea, coffee, rice, seafood, handicrafts and natural rubber to enter itsmarket. He also suggested the host country increase direct investmentsin Vietnam’s hi-tech agriculture and processing industries. In return, Vietnam is willing to facilitate Israel’s export of hi-techand quality products, transfer of science-technology, and funding ofproduction activities in the Southeast Asian country, he added. Hue said the two sides should also foster partnerships in otherpotential fields such as energy, information technology, new materialproduction and consumer goods and food industries. He also urged the rapid completion of a joint research report on thefeasibility of negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA)and asked Israel to recognise Vietnam’s full market economy to enableFTA talks to commence as soon as possible. For hispart, Israeli Minister Aryeh Deri rejoiced at the substantial progressseen in bilateral relations since the countries set up diplomatic tiesin July 1993 and pledged his utmost efforts to enhance theirmultifaceted cooperation. He agreed with theVietnamese side’s proposals and said the two governments should createpolicies supporting agricultural affiliation, especially in copyrightregistration, intellectual property and investment funds. The official also concurred with the need for the expeditiousconclusion of an evaluation report on FTA talks, adding that Israel willactively consider recognising Vietnam’s full market economy. At the meeting, Israel consented to share its experience in building astart-up business system and technological incubators and committed tocontinuing to train Vietnamese agricultural farmers and consideringreceiving guest workers from the country. Also onJune 28, Commission Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue met with executives of theLR and ORCA groups, which are running several projects in Vietnam.-VNA