The Russian Export Centre on Tuesday held a networking event in HCM City to enable Vietnamese and Russian business executives to meet each other and improve the business relationship between the two countries.

Held at the Rex Hotel, it was attended by around 20 businesses from the two countries.

Robert Kurilo, chief representative of the Russian Export Centre (REC) in Ha Noi, said: “Viet Nam is good at agriculture, medical products and tourism, which Russia has high demand for.

“However, trade between the two countries has not been as good as we would hope. I think this is because after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia had to focus on its domestic markets.

“Russia is slowly paying more attention to the Viet Nam market, but now there is a lot of competition with countries such as Japan and the US, so that can be a challenge.

“But with the support of businesses, the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and Russian authorities, we hope to build the relationship between the two sides.”

Since January this year logistic companies such as Russian Railway Logistics are providing services enabling export of Vietnamese goods to Russia and vice versa by rail, which is faster than by sea.

Sergey Klishin of Schelkovo Agrohim, one of Russia’s largest plant protection chemical manufacturers, said: “We are here to network with Vietnamese companies and research the plant protection chemicals market in Viet Nam as we are aware that Viet Nam has high demand for such products. We are looking for partners so we can tap the market.”

Nguyen Viet Anh, marketing manager of NaFoods Group (a Vietnamese fruit and vegetable exporter), said the event was a great opportunity to meet with Russian companies that can help export Vietnamese fruits to Russia, which has great demand for Vietnamese fruits.

He did meet some potential partners and hoped for close co-operation with them, he said.

REC’s Russian Gastro House in District 1, a showroom for Russian food items, plans to expand in the next few months.

It will change its name to Trading House of Russian Export Centre and showcase more types of products and organise more promotional events.

Trade between the two countries last year was worth around US$5.2 billion.

Alexey Popov, Russia’s consul general in HCM City, said the two countries hoped to reach $10 billion by 2020.

Vo Tan Thanh, deputy director of the VCCI said the Viet Nam - Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement which took effect in 2016 and the expansion of REC’s services were major factors in boosting trade and fostering the relationship between Viet Nam and Russia. — VNS