Vietnam's Prime Minister Phan Van Khai held talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Khaleda Zia here Wednesday and witnessed the signing of a bilateral investment agreement, according to Vietnam News Agency.

The Bangladeshi prime minister, who arrived here on May 17 for a three-day visit, discussed with Khai on measures to implement agreements in the areas of trade, investment, agriculture, industry, science and technology, education, culture, tourism and sports.

They agreed to strive to increase bilateral trade to 100 million US dollars by 2008, focusing on the pharmaceutical, garment, and leather industries, cement production, agricultural machinery manufacturing, and wood furniture making.

They also agreed to consider incentives, particularly in the form of tariffs, for imports from each other and create favorable conditions for business circles of the two sides to conduct direct payments.

Khai and his Bangladeshi counterpart reached an agreement on the necessary preparations for the first session of their Joint Governmental Committee on Economic, Cultural and Sci-tech Co-operation in the near future.

Zia expressed the hope that Vietnamese investors would pour their investment into her country, especially in the areas of farm produce processing and agricultural machinery manufacturing.

The two leaders agreed to boost cooperation in education, training, tourism and aviation, and to push up bilateral cooperation within the regional and international mechanisms.

Source: Xinhua