The construction site of a luxury hotel and apartment complex invested by Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group in Yangon, Myanmar. — VNA/VNS Photo Ha Anh

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam and Myanmar are looking to set up a joint venture in steel manufacturing, said visiting Myanmar Minister of Industry U Maung Myint, in Ha Noi on Wednesday.

During talks with Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, the Myanmar official said his current visit to Viet Nam was to seek partners and forge bilateral trade links in the fields of chemicals, fertilisers, steel and agricultural machinery.

U Maung Myint said his country will expedite the establishment of steel joint ventures with Viet Nam and called for investment from Vietnamese businesses in garment and textiles.

Myanmar will also create optimal conditions for Vietnamese fertiliser firms to boost their exports to the market, he added.

Minister Hoang hoped that Myanmar would soon pass a law on Foreign Investment to create a legal basis for Vietnamese investors operating there.

During talks with Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, the Myanmar official said his current visit to Viet Nam was to seek partners and forge bilateral trade links in the fields of chemicals, fertilisers, steel and agricultural machinery. — Photo baocongthuong

In other talks with the Chairman of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) Tran Bac Ha, on the same day, U Maung Myint and chairman of the Myanmar's Small and Medium-sized Industry Development Bank (SMIDB), expressed the hope that BIDV would be one of the first foreign banks licensed to operate in Myanmar in time to come.

BIDV's Ha said that his bank was ready to set up a commercial bank in Myanmar soon after getting approval from Myanmar's Government, adding that BIDV has leased a 3,000 square metre office in Yangon in anticipation of the plan.

BIDV will support SMIDB in developing banking service products and information technology application besides exchanging information on banking operations and economic, financial and banking policies of Viet Nam and Myanmar.

SMIDB's chairman said that the two banks will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral cooperation and technological support in Myanmar later this month.

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, until the end of last year, 45 Vietnamese firms were licensed to operate in Myanmar.

The two countries targeted a bilateral trade turnover of US$600 million by 2015. Investment and tourism, respectively, from Viet Nam to Myanmar are also expected to touch $1-1.2 billion and 35,000 tourists by 2015. — VNS