HÀ NỘI — Kyrgyz Prime Minister Adylbek Kasymaliev met with Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Hồng Diên and Vietnamese business representatives in Hà Nội on Friday as part of his official visit to Việt Nam.

Kasimalyev said that the meeting represents an important opportunity to strengthen co-operation between the two countries.

In the past four years, multi-dimensional reforms implemented by the Kyrgyzstan government have helped promote the stable development of its economy, with an average GDP growth of about 9 per cent, he said.

Kyrgyzstan now offers a favourable business environment to foreign investors, as well as various incentives in terms of customs duties, export procedures and administrative procedures, which have opened up investment opportunities for foreign businesses, including those from Việt Nam.

The Kyrgyz Prime Minister stressed that Việt Nam and Kyrgyzstan have potential for co-operation in agriculture, hydropower, renewable energy, tourism, information technology and the digital economy.

“The co-operation between the businesses of our countries has been strengthened through investment projects by Vietnamese businesses in Kyrgyzstan,” he said.

"I hope that through this event, our economic and investment collaboration will continue to thrive. Kyrgyzstan is always ready to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to co-operate and invest," he added.

Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Hồng Diên said that since official diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992, Việt Nam and Kyrgyzstan have built a good partnership based on strong friendship and mutual understanding.

The two sides have recorded many positive developments through close co-ordination and mutual support in multilateral forums such as the United Nations, the Co-ordinating Conference on Actions and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), which laid the foundation for economic, trade and investment co-operation between the two countries, Diên said.

Bilateral trade between Việt Nam and Kyrgyzstan has seen positive growth in recent years, especially since the Việt Nam-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement – of which Kyrgyzstan is a member – came into effect in 2016, he added.

Last year, bilateral trade reached its highest-ever growth rate of 172 per cent, making Việt Nam the largest trade partner of Kyrgyzstan in ASEAN, and Kyrgyzstan the third-largest trade partner of Việt Nam in central Asia.

"We congratulate Kyrgyzstan on the economic achievements it has made in recent years, thanks to the dynamic and effective policies that help to exploit and leverage the country’s natural potential and strategic location as one of the important links in the Asia-Europe corridor," Diên said.

Việt Nam and Kyrgyzstan need to further strengthen co-operation in trade, industrial development and investment to live up to their strong political relationship, he said.

Minutes of co-operation were exchanged between Kyrgyzstan's Minister of Energy Taalaibek Ibraev and Vietnamese businesses at the meeting. — BIZHUB/VNS