Vietnam, Argentina step up trade, investment relations

Vietnam and Argentina pledged to facilitate enterprises’ trade promotion activities while agreeing to negotiate a legal framework on Vietnamese product penetration into the South American country.

The commitment was delivered during a meeting between visiting Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and Argentine Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Bianco in Buenos Aires on August 31.

Deputy Minister Anh expressed his hope that two sides would make the utmost efforts to effectively implement agreements from the meeting of the Vietnam-Argentina Intergovernmental Committee last year, and requested Argentina open its door to Vietnamese dragon fruit, hesperidium, lychee and longan.

For his part, the Argentine official said that his country wants to boost trade and investment relations with the Southeast Asian country.

On the same day, a number of enterprises operating in agriculture, food, cement, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure construction gathered at an Argentina-Vietnam business forum to discuss cooperation opportunities.

In his opening remarks, chairman of the Argentina chamber of commerce’s import-export committee Victor Dosoretz spoke highly of Vietnamese enterprise participation and underlined Argentina’s strengths to develop cooperation with Vietnam.

He said that bilateral trade has grown substantially, reaching 1.92 billion USD in 2014, up 20.6 percent from 2013, adding that in the first six months of this year, it stood at 970 million USD, rising 34 percent against the same period last year.

Vietnam will continue to foster economic integration despite global economic recession and unstable monetary market, Deputy Minister Anh affirmed, highlighting that Vietnam is pushing negotiations on free trade deals and new generation free trade agreements.

He added that the Vietnamese Government always creates favourable conditions for foreign enterprises, including Argentinean ones, to invest in the country.

At the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina Nguyen Dinh Thao overviewed Vietnam’s economic-socio achievements in recent years, especially its increasingly significant role in the international arena.

He expressed his hope that the two countries would enhance high-ranking delegation exchanges in the future.

Vietnam has exported footwear, rubber, garments, tea, coffee and agricultural machines to Argentina while importing cattle food, animal and vegetable oil, cereals, leather, beef and cotton from the South American country.-VNA