President Truong Tan Sang arrived at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran capital city on late March 13, beginning a State visit to Iran.

President Truong Tan Sang (centre) arrives at Mehrabad International Airport.

The Vietnamese State leader was met at the airport by Iranian officials, Vietnamese Ambassador to Iran Nguyen Hong Thach, representatives of the Vietnamese community in Iran, and the ambassadors of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

The official welcome ceremony will be held at the presidential palace on March 14.

During his stay, President Truong Tan Sang is scheduled to have talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, pay courtesy calls to other Iranian leaders, attend a Vietnam – Iran business forum, and visit the Vietnamese Embassy.

Vietnam, Iran to discuss improving bilateral trade

President Truong Tan Sang and Irani President Hassan Rouhani will discuss steps to boost bilateral trade, particularly in finance and banking, and oil and gas when he visits Iran, which is part of his African and Middle East tour from March 9-15.

Since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties on August 4, 1973, Vietnam and Iran have seen strides in their relationship across the fields of politics, economy and trade, culture, education, and science and technology.

On the back of various signed agreements, Iran is keen on working with Vietnam on industry, petroleum, construction, transport, cement production and fertiliser, which are also the Middle Eastern country’s strengths. Iran also expects to import more farm produce from Vietnam.

However, statistics show that Vietnam – Iran economic links remains limited and are yet to match their potential.

Two-way trade soared from 6.5 million USD in 2001, to 185.6 million USD in 2011, but dropped to 106.7 million USD last year, of which Vietnam’s exports accounted for 72.3 percent.

It was attributed to the impacts of economic sanctions on Iran, leading to a failure to agree on a common payment method, as well as a lack of information about each market.

Due to the US’s embargo on Iran, the Danan oil field – a project signed between the PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Corporation and the National Iranian Oil Company, halted its operation.

After economic sanctions against Iran were lifted this January and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between Tehran and the P5+1 countries, including the US, Russia, UK, France, China and Germany took effect last July, the gate to global economic integration has become wider for Iran, bringing opportunities to global partners, including Vietnam.

With a population of 80 million, Iran is a major Middle East market, while Vietnam is a gateway to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Over the past five years, Vietnam has shipped seafood, rice, tea, coffee, pepper, cashew nuts, ratten and bamboo items, rubber, plastics, spare parts, electronic accessories, and garments to Iran and imported plastic materials, petrochemical products, metal, wheat, textile-leather and footwear.

During meetings between the leaders, Vietnam and Iran expressed a wish to uphold their traditional friendship and lift ties to a greater height for the benefit of the two peoples, predominantly in the areas of oil and gas, industry, agriculture, and finance and banking.

On the sidelines of the Asia-Africa Summit in Jakarta last April, President Sang and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani pledged all possible support for their business communities in order to raise two-way trade.

The Irani government gives top priority to offering incentives that attract foreign direct investment and to adopting technological advances. It is currently upgrading oil and gas and socio-economic infrastructure at a cost of hundreds of billions USD – more attention will be paid to oil and gas, aviation, mining and steel.

As a natural resource rich country in the Middle East, Iran ranks fourth globally in terms of crude oil production and second in fuel reserves, accounting for over 10 percent and 18.2 percent of the world’s total, respectively.

Iran is also the second largest economy in the Middle East – Northern Africa region, with a total gross domestic product of over 400 billion USD, behind only Saudi Arabia.

Experts forecast that Iran could grow at least 4 percent this year.

Ambassador: President’s visit to Iran aims to promote bilateral ties

President Truong Tan Sang will be arriving in Tehran on March 13, seeking closer ties with Iran, especially in economy and trade, Vietnamese Ambassador to Iran Nguyen Hong Thach has told the Tehran Times.

He said there are many Vietnamese businessmen wishing to enter the Iranian market and the same feeling is also expressed by Iranian businessmen towards Vietnam.

They two countries should push trade forward as they see great potential for expanding relations in this field, he noted

Petrochemistry, for example, is one of the strengths of Iran. On the other hand, Vietnam’s agricultural, textile, and shoes industries have a lot to offer Iran.

Furthermore, an important area for cooperation is tourism. Iranians travel a lot, especially to countries near Vietnam. So, it is a good opportunity for the two countries to consider the tourism sector more seriously, he said.

In fact, the petrochemistry sector is closely related to the oil industry. During the visit, both sides will discuss a joint venture in Vietnam between Iranian Ghadir Investment Group and PetroVietnam to produce petrochemicals fed by petroleum imports from Iran.

It is a good opportunity for Iran because if Iran produces petrochemicals in Vietnam, it can export them through Vietnam to Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries, including the US, Canada, Japan, and the Republic of Korea with very low tariff levels. The project is in the interest of both countries as Iran cannot access the market directly.

Thach said he hopes that both countries will sign a memorandum of understanding on the joint venture on the occasion.

He also unveiled that a number of memoranda of understanding are also expected to be signed during the visit, including one between the State Bank of Vietnam and the Central Bank of Iran to expand banking ties.

Also, on the agenda will be a very big business forum organised by the Trade Promotion Organisation of Iran, he added.

The ambassador also called on Vietnamese businessmen to invest in the garment industry in Iran, which has a big market and is a gateway into the Middle East region.

VNA