Saigontourist, Astana Expo-2017 cooperate to promote Vietnam-Kazakhstan trade, tourism

July 31, 2015 | 19:15

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Vietnamese tourism company Saigontourist and national company Astana EXPO-2017, which is in charge of organising the World’s Fair EXPO-2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan, on July 30 signed a memorandum of cooperation to promote trade and tourism between the two countries.

Specifically, Saigontourist is going to promote the World’s Fair EXPO-2017 to its customers, especially businesspeople wishing to do business in Kazakhstan, as well as other countries in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

“The purpose is to give Vietnamese companies information so that they can plan on joining the expo, which is a good opportunity for them to meet potential partners,” said Tran Hung Viet, general director of Saigontourist.

A type of tour that Saigontourist offers is for businesses to combine sightseeing with getting to know the market in the countries they travel to. According to Viet, representatives of many Vietnamese companies have been travelling to countries in the EAEU looking for business opportunities. The majority of them are trading companies wishing to export agricultural produce and seafood.

The World’s Fair EXPO first began in London in 1851. The 2017 World’s Fair EXPO in Astana will focus on the theme “Future Energy”, displaying energy solutions and their global impact. More than 100 countries and 10 international organisations are expected to participate and around five million people are expected to visit the pavilions from June to September 2017.

Vietnam is the first country to sign a free trade agreement with the EAEU, which still maintains a very high barrier to trade with other countries in the world. Therefore, once effective, the FTA is going to give a certain competitive edge for Vietnamese goods as the only group of goods to benefit from tariff cuts as stipulated by the agreement when being imported into the area.

By By Khanh Tran

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