The Chilean Library of Congress has affirmed the increasing importance of Vietnam ’s partnership with both Chile and the Latin American region in a statement published on their website.

The recently implemented bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will help promote trade between the two countries, the website said. Prior to the FTA in 2011, the two countries’ trade turnover reached 487 million USD, making up a year-on-year increase of 50 percent. Since the implementation of the FTA in the first quarter of this year, it continued rising to 176 million USD, an increase of 85 percent from the same period last year.

The FTA with Vietnam will allow Chile more trade and investment opportunities in the newly-emerging market with nearly 90 million consumers, Marcela Sabat, member of the Vietnam-Chile Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group, said on the website.

Also in the article, Matias Mori, Executive Vice President of the Chilean Government’s Foreign Investment Committee and head of Chilean delegation at the Vietnam-Latin America Trade and Investment Forum in July, expressed concerns on the Latin American country’s ability to attract Vietnam’s investment in energy, mineral, food processing and infrastructure projects, after the Vietnamese Government pledged to spend about 12 billion USD on foreign investment.-VNA