An agreement on economic cooperation between the two countries took effect yesterday, during minister Počivalšek's visit to Vietnam, where he is accompanied by an 11-member Slovenian delegation. The agreement was signed in July this year during the visit of Vietnam's Economy Minister, Vu Huy Hoang, to Slovenia.

Vietnam, with a population of 90 million, is in the group of fast growing economies.

Minister Počivalšek assesses that the possibilities for increasing economic cooperation are very big. A step in that direction will also be the new agreement on economic cooperation between the EU and Vietnam, due to be approved in short.

Wishes are Port of Koper and Gorenje
Worth mentioning are two potentially very important projects: Vietnam is very interested in turning the Port of Koper into a Vietnamese logistics center for Central and East-European countries. Taking into account that Vietnamese ports load more than 300 million tonnes of shipping goods per year, it could potentially be a very good deal.

Another such project is the planned construction of a Gorenje factory in Vietnam. There are also great possibilities for increased trade with farm products, as well increased cooperation in the field of tourism.

Today, minister Počivalšek will take part in a business conference and also meet the vice-president of the government of Vietnam and the country's defence minister.

T. H., Uroš Lipušček/Radio Slovenija; translated by K. J.