Vietnamese Ambassador Le Thanh Tung has introduced Vietnam’s business environment as well as the country’s incentives for foreign investors at a trade and investment forum held recently in the western Mexican state of Jalisco.

The ambassador attended the event together with representatives from several other Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore.

Ambassador Tung briefed the forum on Vietnam’s significant achievements recorded during the past two-decade renewal process and solutions to ease impacts of the global economic crisis on the national economy.

With a population of over 90 million people, Vietnam is seen as a major market in the region, the diplomat said, noting that the country has become the world’s leading rice exporter.

On this occasion, the Vietnamese Embassy’s Commercial Counselor Hoang Tuan Viet distributed documents to participants at the forum, that provide useful information about Vietnam’s economic development, including a list of the country’s 30 major export items.

Many Mexican businesses showed their interest in Vietnamese products such as bikes, electronic components, information-technology, ceramics, rice and garments and textiles.

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee for the Asia-Pacific, Senator Teofilo Torres Corzo, Jalisco Governor Rafael Mejorada Flores and Colima state’s Governor Mario Anguiano Moreno, and Chairman of the Business Council for Foreign trade, Investment and Technology of Western Mexico Salvador Cuevas Acuna expressed their wish to establish trade partnership with Southeast Asian countries. They also called on Southeast Asian enterprises to invest in western Mexico.

Mexico exports 5 billion USD worth of goods each year to the ten-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Encompassing Jalisco and Colima states, Western Mexico has a population of 8 million people.

As one of the country’s key economic regions, only after Mexico City, the region specilises in producing footwear, garments and textiles, information-technology and fishing.-VNA