TEHRAN, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Vietnam have discussed boost of cooperation particularly in agriculture sector, Financial Tribune daily reported on Sunday.
The issue was raised during a meeting between Iranian Agriculture Minister, Mahmoud Hojjati, and his visiting Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Xuan Cuong, in the capital Tehran on Saturday.
Hojjati said that both countries have considerable potential in the agriculture and the two nations can benefit from trading agricultural products and seafood.
He also said that imports from Vietnam can solve Iran's 800,000-ton deficit in rice production while the latter's consumption for rice stands at 2.2 million tons per year.
"Sturgeon, trout, salmon and other types of fish produced in Iran are popular among Vietnamese and we are ready to import seafood from Iran," said the Vietnamese minister.
During Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Vietnam in Oct. 2016, both sides pledged to boost bilateral trade with a value of 2 billion U.S. dollars, a significant increase compared to 350 million U.S. dollars in the previous year.
Iran is also eager to export oil and gas technology to Vietnam in exchange for health and industry.