Hanoi (VNA)– The third meeting of the Vietnam-Oman Joint Committee on Economic and TechnicalCooperation took place in Hanoi on March 23, focusing on reviewing theimplementation of cooperation agreements reached at the previous meeting andseeking measures to further promote bilateral affiliation in the future.

TheVietnamese delegation was led by Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh,while the Omani team was headed by Minister of Commerce and Ali bin Masoud AlSunaidy. The event also drew Omani Ambassador to Vietnam Sultan Saif Hilal AlMahruqi.

Thetwo ministers briefed each other on socio-economic situation in each country.They agreed on a number of measures to boost bilateral partnership, includingspeeding up negotiations for the soon signing of an agreement on visa exemptionfor diplomatic and official passport holders.

The two countries willenhance cooperation between their Chambers of Commerce and Industry to encouragebusiness communities of both sides to increase delegation exchanges as well astrade, investment promotion activities.

At the same time,they will share information to update their businesses on trade policies aswell as import-export regulations, market demand, business opportunities andprojects in each country.

Meanwhile, they willconsider the possibility of expanding cooperation in areas of oil and gas,finance, banking, labour, agriculture, aquaculture, transport, culture, sportand tourism.

Concluding the event,the two ministers signed a minute of the meeting.

Statistics showedthat in 2017, trade between Vietnam and Oman reached 116.7 million USD, up122.2 percent over 2016. Vietnam exports were 40.9 million USD, up 74 percent,mostly from cellphones and spare parts, machines and equipment, automobileparts, and agricultural products.

Meanwhile, thecountry imported 75.8 million USD worth of products from the Middle-Eastcountry, a rise of 161 percent over the previous year, mostly metals, ore andminerals, plastic materials, animal feed and materials.

So far, Oman has runfive investment products in Vietnam with total registered capital of nearly 340million USD.-VNA