Russian-Vietnamese trade to top $1 billion in 2005

HANOI, July 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russian-Vietnamese trade may top $1 billion in 2005 for the first time in the past ten years, Russian trade representative in Vietnam Alexander Sitnikov said ahead of the 50th anniversary of the bilateral trade and economic relations.

The Soviet and Vietnamese governments signed their first trade agreement on July 18, 1955, forming a basis for bilateral economic relations. In light of this, the two governments decided to open a Soviet trade mission in Vietnam.

The Soviet Union supplied essential goods to Vietnam during its fight for independence and state unity. The USSR helped build more than 300 enterprises in Vietnam, which make up the basis of the country's economy, Sitnikov said.

Russian-Vietnamese trade has grown during the past three years. Sitnikov said that in 2003, it aggregated $651 million and grew by 36% in 2004, totaling $887.3 million. In the first five months of 2005, bilateral trade topped $432 million, 25% more than in the same 2004 period.

The sides are developing cooperation in the traditional oil and gas and power industries, as well as in trade and investments, engineering, finance and banking, agriculture, veterinary medicine, tourism and civil aviation.