The Vietnam-Belarus Friendship Association and the Belarusian Embassy in Vietnam jointly held a ceremony in Hanoi on July 3 to mark the Independence Day of Belarus and the 65 th anniversary of the country’s liberation from German fascist invaders.

Speaking at the ceremony, Belarussian Ambassador A.A Kutselai said that Vietnam and Belarus are actively implementing an inter-governmental cooperation programme so they can take advantage of each other’s human resources and strengths.

Vietnam is Belarus’s traditional Southeast-Asian trade partner, with two-way trade reaching nearly 150 million USD last year, doubling the figure of 2007, he said, adding that the volume of goods exchanged between the two countries has quadrupled in the past four years.

He also stressed that Belarussian businesses are ready to cooperate with Vietnamese partners.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Danh Vinh, who is also President of the Vietnam-Belarus Friendship Association, thanked the Belarussian Government and people for their assistance to Vietnam ’s struggles for independence in the past as well as its current national development.

Regarding the two countries’ potential for economic development, he said that Vietnam can supply garments, footwear, coffee, tea, rubber, rice, seafood and handicrafts to Belarus while having a demand for metal, fertiliser, machines and equipment and chemicals from the European country. (VNA)