Bilateral trade between Vietnam and Chile during the first eight months of this year reached 540.5 million USD, up by 55.3 percent, with exports accounting for 302.2 million USD, an astounding 120 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

These figures were announced by the Vietnam-Chile Free Trade Council (VCFTA) at its first meeting in Santiago , Chile on November 3-4.

At the event, the two sides agreed to create favorable conditions for goods from both countries to access each other’s market. Chile is keen to export salmon, poultry, beef and dairy products, while Vietnam aims to meet Chile ’s demand for seafood, dragon fruit and other tropical fruit, and rice.

The Free Trade Agreement also entails bilateral cooperation in a number of fields, such as personnel training, salmon farming, and mining technology.

The statistics show that Vietnam is the second largest trader in Southeast Asia to the Chilean market after Thailand .

From 2008-2013, Chile ’s exports to Vietnam grew by 27.1 percent every year.

As much as 20 percent of Chile ’s total exports to ASEAN are destined for Vietnam , which impors more products from Chile than any other ASEAN member state. Vietnam and Chile signed their FTA in November 2011. The document came into effect on January 1, 2014. This is the first FTA Vietnam has signed with a Latin American country./.