VCCI Chairman Pham Tan Cong had a meeting with the Ambassador of Turkmenistan.

VCCI Chairman Pham Tan Cong had a meeting with the Ambassador of Turkmenistan, Mr. Parakhat Hommadovich Durdyev (Photo: Truong Dang)

On June 24, 2024, VCCI Chairman Pham Tan Cong met with Mr. Parakhat Hommadovich Durdyev, the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkmenistan to Vietnam, to discuss the economic and trade situation between the two countries and the prospects for future cooperation.

According to the Ambassador, Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing economies in the region and the world, with an increasingly prominent position. Meanwhile, Turkmenistan, with its large natural gas reserves, could be an important partner for Vietnam in the energy sector, especially as Vietnam seeks to diversify its energy supply.

The Ambassador of Turkmenistan expressed a strong desire and readiness to cooperate with VCCI to further enhance trade and investment cooperation between the two countries in areas such as natural gas, chemicals, tourism, agriculture, technology, and more.

Turkmenistan has significant strengths in the field of natural gas (Photo: Truong Dang).

Turkmenistan is a Central Asian economy with a high middle-income status, possessing up to 10% of the world's natural gas reserves. However, its main export partners are still Russia and China, with the primary export goods being natural resources. Notably, Turkmenistan has many strong state-owned enterprises in the development of large oil and gas pipelines in Central and South Asia.

Besides natural gas, Turkmenistan also has strengths in cotton cultivation, textiles, and carpet weaving. The country has a high demand for imports of machinery, mining and construction equipment, rice, and vegetables, which are strengths of many Vietnamese enterprises.

During the meeting, Ambassador Durdyev expressed his desire for VCCI to support the promotion of trade between the two countries by encouraging Vietnamese businesses to invest in Turkmenistan. The Turkmen side will create the most favorable conditions for investors. Some fields with great potential for cooperation include natural gas extraction, biotechnology, aviation, and supporting Turkmenistan in training small and medium-sized enterprises. The Ambassador stated that he would do his utmost to help VCCI sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Turkmenistan Chamber of Commerce soon.

VCCI Chairman Pham Tan Cong highly appreciated the Ambassador's desire for cooperation and stated that VCCI would strive to enhance information exchange between businesses, promote high-level delegations between the two countries so that businesses on both sides can better understand each other's markets, key products, business cultures, and consumer habits. These issues have previously been barriers preventing bilateral trade transactions from reaching the expected levels.

The Turkmenistan Ambassador expects VCCI to play a positive role in promoting trade between the two countries in the coming time.

For its part, VCCI will continue to organize seminars to disseminate market information and business networking events when Turkmenistan business delegations visit Vietnam. This will help businesses access information quickly, specifically, and officially. Additionally, VCCI will organize intensive training courses to support businesses in using online tools to analyze markets and find business partners, especially for small and micro-enterprises.

In the near future, both sides hope that their governments will introduce more supportive policies to facilitate businesses in conducting surveys and seeking cooperation opportunities in each other's markets. They also aim to leverage online trade platforms from both sides to further promote partner searching and trade.