On May 19th an Azerbaijan-Vietnam business forum took place in Hanoi as part of a state visit by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Speaking to the forum, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu highlighted economic situation in his country in the past few years. He said the Gross Domestic Product had grown 5.3-fold in Vietnam over recent years, adding inflation was kept stable. The Deputy Minister praised trade between Azerbaijan and Vietnam, saying it was 400 million US dollars. He, however, stressed the necessity of boosting the bilateral trade. Cam Tu expressed confidence the two countries would successfully cooperate in a number of areas, including agriculture, food and oil and gas industry.
Azerbaijani Economy and Industry minister Shahin Mustafayev said both presidents of Azerbaijan and Vietnam attached great importance to the business forum.
He said both Azerbaijan and Vietnam had good potential to build cooperation in a variety of fields, including oil and gas, machine engineering, chemistry, agriculture, and light industry.
Mustafayev said Azerbaijan would be a window to the South Caucasus for Vietnam.
Director of Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) Rufat Mammadov highlighted the economic achievements of Azerbaijan. He said the Azerbaijani government had taken serious measures to diversify the national economy and develop the non-oil sector in the past few years.
Mammadov also hailed investment climate in Azerbaijan as favourable, and called on Vietnamese entrepreneurs to cooperate with their Azerbaijani counterparts.