The ministry presented the data during a meeting between representatives of Myanmar and Vietnamese businesspeople yesterday.

Representatives of Myanmar’s Trade Ministry and Viet Nam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade as well as 50 companies from both countries attended the meeting, which aims to promote business relations between the two ASEAN-member countries.

Bilateral trade between Myanmar and Viet Nam has attained significant growth since the fourth meeting of the Myanmar-Viet Nam Joint Trade Co-operation Committee in January 2007, according to the chief of the representative office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in HCM City, Phan The Hao.

He said in 2008, Viet Nam attained an export turnover of $32.6 million to Myanmar, a year-on-year increase of 49.6 per cent, making Viet Nam one of the top 16 exporters to Myanmar.

Viet Nam’s major goods exported to Myanmar include textile and garment products ($6.1 million) and plastics ($2.5 million).

Meanwhile, Viet Nam’s imports from Myanmar reached $75.6 million, up 0.3 per cent over 2007, making Viet Nam one of the top buyers of Myanmar’s goods.

Major imports from Myanmar include wood and wood products ($57.1 million) as well as rubber ($4.8 million).

According to figures released at the meeting, two-way trade between the two countries in 2007 amounted to $97.2 million, up 20 per cent over 2006 and 68.4 per cent over 2005.

The two countries still have great business potential to be tapped, especially in the sectors of agriculture and forestry, textiles and garments, electronics, electrical appliances, medical and pharmaceutical equipment and consumer goods, according to Hao.

The deputy minister for trade of Myanmar and deputy president of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Brig-Gen Aung Tun, said the meeting offered Myanmar and Vietnamese businesses an opportunity to better understand the markets in each country and promote bilateral trade.

“Viet Nam is one of the major trading partners of Myanmar in the ASEAN region. Both countries have intensified co-operation in economic and trade and investment since Myanmar adopted a market-oriented system in early 1990,” said Aung Tun.