At the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference, both sides praised their economic, trade and investment cooperation in recent years.

They agreed to seek trade stimulation measures together, while Khanh suggested Argentina create favourable conditions for Vietnamese products to enter the South American market to balance trade between the two countries.

They highlighted their coordination in preparation for next year’s Vietnamese trip of Argentine President Mauricio Macri on the occasion of 45th anniversary of the founding of bilateral diplomatic relations.

Both said that the official visit would reinforce the two countries’ comprehensive partnership.

Vietnam and Argentina established a comprehensive partnership in 2010, with bilateral trade increasing tenfold in the past 10 years from about 300 million in 2006 to exceed 3 billion USD in 2016.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, in the first 10 months of 2017, Vietnam – Argentina trade hit 2.62 billion USD, up 8.87 percent from the same period last year, and was estimated to reach 3.5 billion USD by year’s end.

Vietnam is now the sixth biggest trade partner of Argentina. Vietnam mainly exports to Argentina footwear, electronic products, garment-textiles goods and agricultural machines, while Argentina is the second biggest foreign supplier of food and farm produce in Vietnam.