¡¡¡¡HANOI, March 26 (Xinhuanet) -- The Vietnamese government has approved the 2001 International Coffee Agreement, which Vietnam signed at the United Nations headquarters in New York on August 22,2001, according to a report of Vietnam News Agency on Tuesday.

¡¡¡¡Under the agreement, Vietnamese coffee exporters are now allowed to raise coffee prices on the world market, have preferential tax rates at the agreement's member countries and receive technical assistance to improve product quality.

¡¡¡¡The countries that signed the agreement are Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Uganda, Tanzania and Vietnam.

¡¡¡¡According to the International Coffee Organization, among the world's 60 coffee growing and exporting countries, Vietnam stands third after Brazil and Colombia in coffee export volume with an annual quantity of 11.35 million bags shipped abroad (each weighing 60 kilograms). Enditem

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