Vietnam,Belarus to speed up economic cooperation

Vietnam and Belarus should speed up the implementation of economic cooperation programs for the 2013- 2015 period and continue perfecting a legal foundation to further facilitate bilateral trade and investment.The statement was made by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at a reception in capital Hanoi on Thursday for Belarusian Economy Minister Nicolai Snopkov who is on a working visit to Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency reported on Thursday.Expressing his delight with the fine development of their bilateral relations in many areas, especially in economics, trade, investment and science-technology, the government leader proposed the two countries accelerate the implementation of the outcomes of the ninth session of the Vietnam-Belarus inter-governmental committee.The host went on to say that the two sides should enhance the implementation of their bilateral agreement on plant quarantine and the signing of an agreement on animal quarantine, paving the way for Vietnam's goods to penetrate the Belarus market as well as creating favorable conditions for enterprises of both sides to promote investment and trade.Dung also called on Belarus to foster the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.Dung underscored that Vietnam wishes to and exerts efforts to work with Belarus to boost bilateral cooperation in a more effective, fruitful and deeper manner, bringing benefits to both sides.For his part, the Belarusian economy minister expressed his impression of Vietnam's development, particularly in maintaining economic growth and eradicating poverty.The guest affirmed that Belarus is willing to cooperate and share its experiences in industrial equipment, automobiles, bridges and roads, chemicals and petro-chemistry with Vietnam, while pushing up the FTA negotiations.It was Nicolai Snopkov's proposal that the two countries should promote the establishment of joint ventures in automobile- related manufacturing, telecommunications, milk production and farm produce processing.He expressed his hope that Vietnam will create conditions for Belarus to strengthen trade and investment ties with other members of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).Vietnam and Belarus established official diplomatic ties at the ambassadorial level in 1992