Vingroup is applying technology transferred from Israel to improve agricultural produce quality in Viet Nam. — Photo ndh

HA NOI (VNS) — Vietnamese and Israeli businesses were urged to speed up their co-operation in the fields of trade and investment to fully tap their potential during a conference held yesterday in Ha Noi.

The conference, dubbed "Meet Israel" gathered 130 representatives of provincial agencies and businesses from both countries.

In his speech at the event, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung said the relationship of the two countries has expanded significantly in a wide range of areas, including economy, science and technology.

In time to come, the foreign ministry would continue to organise activities to boost commercial connectivity between Vietnamese localities and enterprises and their Israel partners, Trung said.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Israel Cao Tran Quoc Hai said that besides agricultural technology, male shrimp breeding production, medical equipment and drip irrigation technology were capturing the interest of Vietnamese firms.

Hai also named Vingroup, TH True Milk and Hoang Anh Gia Lai as several large Vietnamese businesses, who were applying technology transferred from Israel to improve agricultural produce quality.

The firms have made positive gains thus far, he noted.

Two-way trade recorded a fivefold increase in the past five years from US$200 million in 2009 to almost $1.1 billion in 2014. The two nations are striving for a $2 billion trade turnover this year and higher in the following years. — VNS