Vietnamese president starts Baku visit

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang embarked on an official visit to Azerbaijan on May 13.

A guard of honor was lined up for the Vietnamese President at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport decorated with the national flags of the two countries, AzerTac news agency reported.

President Truong Tan Sang and his spouse Mai Thi Hanh were welcomed by Yaqub Eyyubov, Azerbaijan’s first deputy prime minister and other officials.

The Azerbaijani-Vietnamese business forum will be held as part of the visit of the Vietnamese President to Baku on May 14.

The representatives of about 40 Vietnamese companies will attend the forum organized by the Economy and Industry Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani State Customs Committee data showed that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Vietnam amounted to $79.76 million as of 2014 or almost four times less compared to 2013. Thus, some $75.37 million accounted for the export of Azerbaijani goods to Vietnam in 2014.

The diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on September 23, 1992.

In the last two years relations between the two countries were boosted with the establishment of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Vietnam in 2013 and the state visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Vietnam, on May 18-19, 2014.

Azerbaijan and Vietnam have set a common goal to increase their bilateral trade turnover to $1 billion in the near future.