Moscow (VNA) – The Mekong Delta city of Can Thointroduced its advantages and cooperation prospects at a conference in Moscowon August 2 in an effort to boost investment, trade and tourism links withRussian businesses.

Opening the event, Vietnamese Ambassador toRussia Ngo Duc Manh said this was the first time Can Tho had held suchconference in the European country to seek cooperation opportunities with localpartners.

As the capital of Vietnam’s southwestern region,Can Tho is a production hub of not only rice but also fruits and aquaticproducts. Its people are also known for their hospitality, he said, voicing hisbelief that Vietnam-Russia relations, especially locality-to-locality ties,will develop more and more strongly.

With its advantages, Can Tho has sufficientconditions and potential for effective cooperation with Russian localities, thediplomat added.

Vice Chairman of the municipal People’sCommittee Nguyen Thanh Dung stressed that his city’s administration andbusinesses will create the most optimal conditions for partnerships withRussian enterprises to generate the best results.

Since the free trade agreement between Vietnamand the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) took effect, bilateral trade has grownconsiderably, with the Mekong Delta, including Can Tho, supplying a largevolume of aquatic products for export.

Dung noted that Can Tho exported 1.6 million USDworth of goods to Russia in the first half of 2019, and the city is notsatisfied with this outcome.

Can Tho wishes to attract more investment inhigh-tech agriculture, electronics manufacturing, tourism and rice and aquaticexport with Russian companies, Dung added.

For his part, President of the Russian-AsianUnion of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Vitaly Mankevich highlighted Russianand Vietnamese businesses’ mission of raising bilateral trade to 10 billion USDin 2020 as targeted by the countries’ leaders.

He spoke highly of Can Tho’s strengths andbelieved that through practical activities like this investment promotionconference, the two sides’ businesses will find out the starting point fortheir partnerships.

At the event, many Russian firms expressed theirattention to cooperation in tourism, aquaculture and seafood processing withthe city.

Enterprises from the two sides also inkedseveral memoranda of understanding on cooperation in information sharing, tradepromotion, rice bran and rice bran oil trading, logistics, infrastructure building,export of glucozamin extracted from shrimp shell to Russia, aquaculture, andseafood and farm produce trading. -VNA