Deputy Ministry of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh identified hi-tech industries, IT, finance, banking, new materials production, agriculture processing and pharmaceutical as promising sectors for bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and Russia. The deputy minister made the comments at a conference held on October 19 in the capital city, adding that Vietnam always attached great importance to promoting cooperation with Russia, especially in the fields of trade and investment. In the past few years, two-way trade increased significantly, reaching 869 million USD last year. Vietnam shipped seafood, rubber and agricultural products to Russia and in turn imported machines, equipment, fertilisers, petroleum and iron from Russia. Trade between the two nations would likely hit about 1 billion USD by the year-end and 2 billion USD by 2010, Sinh predicted. Currently, Russia ranked 24th among 79 countries and territories making investments in Vietnam with 54 projects capital totalling 300 million USD, while Vietnam pumped 73 million USD into 11 projects in Russia. Addressing October 19 event, Yu V. Yumin, Commerce Representative of the Russian Federation in Vietnam, said he hoped that the forum would help the two countries’ enterprises find out new cooperation opportunities. The event, entitled "Trade, economic, industrial and technology cooperation between Russia and Vietnam: current state and perspectives" was held on the sideline of the 16th International Industrial Fair.