Vietnamese and Algerian officials met this summer to talk about trade.

A recent article in TalkVietnam shows the two countries have a target of $1 billion in bilateral trade by 2020, and talks about recent discussions on the part of Vietnamese trade officials and others confirm this goal to move mutual trade forward.

Vietnamese and Algerian officials are looking to streamline business ties and take away barriers to more vibrant export markets and business partnerships. Signing trade deals is just part of what these countries are doing to foster new growth in their collaborative markets

Commenting on Algerian markets for Maghreb News Wire on Sept. 6, Scott Nelson, CEO and chairman of Sweetbridge, said Algeria is participating in a project called "Binkabi" in which the Vietnamese export rice to Africa.

“They are trying to eliminate the need for intermediaries in this process that charges high finance costs, which increases the cost of the rice to the buyers in Africa while decreasing the profits of the rice farmers in Vietnam,” Nelson said.

Sweetbridge is a “digital-era, blockchain-based economy” that is revolutionizing the process of transactional trade across the world.

“The Sweetbridge economy is a trusted, transparent digital economy that co-exists with existing national economies,” Nelson said in a written description of the company’s practices. “Sweetbridge’s blockchain protocols harmonize the rules for market-access, property-rights protection and compensation for individuals and companies, across existing national economies and boundaries. Thus, Sweetbridge enables both existing and new forms of global trade and settlement … as a participant at Sweetbridge you own the Sweetbridge economy and its ecosystems, and share in the value the economy and its ecosystems create.”

Nelson also talked about some best practices for exports, according to the type of export in question.

“If the commodity has environmental control conditions, then the best practice is to use an IoT (Internet of Things) device to measure the environment to make sure the product is properly handled,” Nelson said. “If the product is at risk of counterfeiting, then an anti-counterfeiting barcode or IoT device is best practice. Putting all of the information about the shipment from all parties in the process on a blockchain is now best practice. Using all of this information in a trade financing solution is also now best practice.”