
Hanoi (VNA) - Representatives of Hanoi enterprises and theircounterparts from Poland gathered in the capital on November 18 to seekpotential cooperation at a forum.
The Vietnam - Poland Economic Development Cooperation Forum was held by the HanoiAssociation for Small and Medium Enterprises (Hanoisme) and Poland's LowerSilesian Agency for Economic Cooperation (DAWG).
According to a report by Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade, as of October2019, Poland had eight foreign direct investment projects in the city withtotal registered capital of 134.83 million USD in realty, manufacturing andprocessing industry, information and communications.
The eight representative offices of Polish firms mostly worked inpharmaceuticals.
The city’s total export turnover to Poland accounted for 2.5 percent of totalexports while Poland’s exports to Hanoi accounted for 26 percent of Poland'stotal export turnover to Vietnam, said Tran Thi Phuong Lan, Deputy Director of the HanoiDepartment of Industry and Trade.
Lan said Hanoi's major exports included textiles, agricultural products,handicrafts and footwear, while imports from Poland included animal feed andpharmaceuticals.
DAWG's Vice President Robert Iwan said at the forum though Vietnam and Polandare both major producers and exporters in agriculture, our products are notduplicated but complimentary to each other, adding that the potential for cooperationof both sides is still huge, especially when the Vietnam-EU Free TradeAgreement (EVFTA) is about to come into effect.
Lan also expressed the city's desire to learn from Poland.
Hanoi wants to learn from Poland, especially Lower Silesia’s experience ofhigh-tech agricultural development.
The cooperation will help local businesses build the value chain with advancedtechnology to meet the requirements of Polish and European markets, she said.
Also at the forum, more than 50 local enterprises joined a B2B meeting betweenVietnamese and Polish enterprises.
On the occasion, the Trade Promotion and Enterprise Support Centre (part ofHanoisme), Greentour Hanoi Company and Poland's Hotel Service 24 Company signeda memorandum of understanding for a trade promotion programme connectingenterprises from Hanoi and Poland.
Trade and investment cooperation between Poland and Vietnam has seen positivegrowth in recent years.
In 2018, two-way turnover between Vietnam and Poland reached nearly 1.6 billionUSD, up some 60 percent compared to 2017.
By the end of September 2019, total import and export turnover of the twocountries reached more than 1.3 billion USD of which, Vietnam exported morethan 1.1 billion USD and imported more than 207 million USD./.