HANOI: Belarus plans to more than triple rice import from Vietnam to 1,500 tonnes, BelTA learned from Valery Ivanov, Chairman of the Board of the Belarusian National Union of Consumer Societies (Belkoopsoyuz), on 8 December.
According to the source, at present Belarus buys 400 tonnes of rice from Vietnam. Valery Ivanov confirmed that for now Vietnamese rice is imported via mediators, but the situation will be fixed within the next 12 months.
Valery Ivanov remarked that Belkoopsoyuz has been buying Vietnamese agricultural products for years, with rice representing the bulk of the supplies. In his words, Vietnam accounts for half of the rice sold in Belarus. Belkoopsoyuz intends to step up purchases of coffee, tea, fruits, and fish products from Vietnam.
At the same time Belarus intends to export more fur products and some other kinds of merchandise to Vietnam. The Belkoopsoyuz CEO said he hopes that the Belarusian-Vietnamese business forum held in Hanoi on 8 December would contribute to new agreements.
