News Room - Business/Economics

Posted on 09 Apr 2009

Bilateral trade between Vietnam, Middle East reaches over $2 bln in 2008

The bilateral trade between Vietnam and the Middle East countries in 2008 reaches 2.03 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 70 percent year-on-year, the local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times reported Tuesday.

 

Of which, Vietnam shipped 1.27 billion U.S. dollars worth of goods to the Middle East countries in 2008, a year-on-year increase of 82 percent, said Nguyen Cong Hien, vice head of the Market Department of Africa- Western Asia- Southern Asia of Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade.

 

Vietnam's major export lines to the Middle East countries include seafood, coffee, pepper, cashew, computers, electronic components, rubber, and wood furniture while it imports mainly oil and gas, petrochemical products, fertilizers and iron and steel from the oil-rich region.

 

The considerable growth in trade between two sides in the past two years was partially owed to the shifting trade and business activities of the Middle East countries to oriental countries, including Vietnam, said the ministry.

 

The ministry has issued an action plan targeting to increase the country's two-way trade with the Middle East region to 3.1 billion U.S. dollars by 2010 and to 9.6 billion U.S. dollars by 2015.