Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai will visit Israel in late November, with a view to furthering bilateral relations, especially in science and technology.

Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai.

Vietnam and Israel established diplomatic ties on July 12, 1993. Since then, they have signed a number of important agreements related to the economy, science and technology.

Two-way trade has increased steadily in recent years. In the first eight months of 2014, trade turnover reached almost US$625 million, with Vietnam’s exports valued at US$343.7 million.

Israel is now one of Vietnam’s largest trade partners in the Middle East, ranking fourth after Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in terms of imports of Vietnamese goods.

Vietnam mainly exports seafood, cashew nuts, coffee, footwear and garments to Israel, and imports fertilizers, pesticides, high-tech machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

The Israeli side organised short-term training courses on post-harvest processing, irrigation management and biotechnology for thousands of Vietnamese agricultural officials, post-graduates and students.

Israel also transferred advanced farming technologies to Vietnam.

Several leading Israeli enterprises in telecommunications and information technology, like ECI Telecom, Vocal Tec, Gilat Satellite Networks and Amdocs, have effectively expanded their business networks to the Southeast Asian nation. Amdocs cooperated with the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) on several projects providing Business Support Systems (BSS) services.

The two countries look forward to bright cooperation prospects in science and technology, with a focus on hi-tech agriculture, communications, transport, informational technology and biotechnology.

A Vietnam-Israel action programme on education and scientific exchange for the 2014-2016 is expected to be signed, promising a prospect for the further exchange of university students and lecturers between the two countries.

At the first meeting of the Vietnam-Israel Inter-Governmental Committee early this year, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan affirmed that Vietnam encouraged Israeli businesses’ investments in hi-tech agriculture, information technology and telecommunication as well as their cooperation in the training of management and research personnel for all sectors.

VNA/VNN