Iran, Vietnam to boost trade exchange nearly six-fold

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says Tehran and Hanoi have decided to boost the volume of their trade exchange nearly six-fold to $2bn in five years' time.

“We have decided to increase the level of trade transactions between Iran and Vietnam, which currently stands at USD 350 million, to UDS 2 billion in the next five years,” Rouhani said in a press conference with his visiting Vietnamese counterpart Truong Tan Sang in Tehran on Monday. 

The Iranian president said that the two countries enjoy very good potentialities that can be developed after the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Tehran and Hanoi have common interests in the region and the world and need to redouble their efforts to achieve their shared goals, he noted. Rouhani further said that Iran and Vietnam have very similar views about regional and global issues and they have had close cooperation in international organizations and forums such as the United Nations and the Non-Allied Movement (NAM).

The Iranian president also said that the Islamic Republic and Vietnam are set to forge closer cooperation in the fight against terrorism. He said the two governments have emphasized the need to closely work together to counter terrorist groups and help settle issues pertaining to conflict-stricken countries such as Syria and Yemen.

The Vietnamese president, for his part, said regional peace and stability is in danger, calling on the international community to make efforts to promote peace.

He said that global, regional, territorial, and border conflicts should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law. Sang also invited the Iranian president to pay a visit to Vietnam.

Rouhani and Sang were speaking after a meeting. Earlier in the day, Rouhani extended an official welcome to Sang, who is in Tehran for bilateral talks.

During the ceremony, national anthems of the two countries were played and the two presidents reviewed the guard of honor.

The Vietnamese president arrived in Tehran on Sunday for an official three-day visit at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart.

Heading a politico-economic delegation, Tan Sang is scheduled to discuss ways with Iranian officials to expand bilateral ties between Tehran and Hanoi particularly in the fields of economy, banking, and energy.

Vietnam and Iran established relations in 1973 and since then the two countries have increased political and economic cooperation through exchange of visits by senior officials from both sides.

Iran opened an embassy in Hanoi in 1991 and Vietnam opened its embassy in Tehran in 1997.

Trade transactions between Iran and Vietnam reached USD 300 million in 2013 from USD 80 million in 2010.

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