Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and Indonesiadiscussed specific measures to advance their friendship and multi-facetedcooperation during the seventh meeting of the joint committee on economic,scientific and technological cooperation in Hanoi on August 12.

Accordingly, they will prioritise collaboration in trade, industry, energy,natural resources, minerals, investment, agriculture, forestry, fishery,transport, construction, education, culture, tourism, finance, banking,information and communications.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said the two sides also agreed toincrease the exchange of delegations, information and experience in managementand development, while working together to build new cooperation frameworks invarious realms.

Besides, they will tighten cooperation to remove difficulties hindering thebilateral ties and encourage connectivity between their private economicsectors in order to fully tap their potential.

Minister Tuan Anh and Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita signed theminutes of the meeting.

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Asia-PacificDepartment, Indonesia is the world’s 16th largest economy and the largestmarket in Southeast Asia.

Despite global and regional economic uncertainties over the past time, tradebetween Vietnam and Indonesia has made significant strides, the departmentsaid.

Indonesia is Vietnam’s fourth largest trade partner in the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with two-way trade expanding from 4.6 billionUSD in 2012 to 5.6 billion USD in 2016, and an annual average growth rate ofabout 5 percent.

In 2016, export and import revenues between the two countries reached 2.6billion USD and 3 billion USD, respectively.

Bilateral collaboration in other fields like agriculture, investment, finance,banking and transport has also made new progresses.-VNA