Buenos Aires (VNA) – A business forum was held by the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) ASEAN Chamber of Commerce (MACC) and Argentina’s Santa Fe province on October 10 to enhance trade exchanges between South American countries and ASEAN member states.
The event drew the participation of the ambassadors and trade counsellors of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, Governor of Santa Fe province Maximiliano Pullaro and local firms.
Pullaro highlighted Santa Fe is a leading exporter of soybeans, corn, and wheat in the country while the province has been renowned for its dairy and honeybee products, forestry goods, cotton, and rice, among others, adding it wants to expand economic, trade, and investment with ASEAN members, including Vietnam – the nation’s third largest trading partner.
Indonesian Ambassador Sulaiman Syarif affirmed that ASEAN states have been interested in enlarging economic ties with MERCOSUR members, with infrastructure development, investment, technology, education, and tourism among the areas of interest.
Meanwhile, MACC President Rodolfo Caffaro Kramer said he will lead a delegation of more than 20 Argentine companies to Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam to study the markets there.
MERCOSUR is currently the 13th largest trading partner of Vietnam with two-way trade increasing from 2.45 billion USD in 2011 to 12 billion USD in 2022. Vietnam exported some 3.3 billion USD worth of goods to MERCOSUR while spending around 8.7 billion USD on imports from the bloc.
Trade revenue between Vietnam and MERCOSUR accounts for a quarter of that between ASEAN and the bloc.
The same day, Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina Ngo Minh Nguyet hosted Deputy of Santa province Yolanda Vega, during which she said Vietnam hopes to strengthen not only parliamentary ties with Argentina but also cooperation with localities of the South American country.
Vega expressed her sentiments to the Vietnamese people and praised the socio-economic achievements that the Southeast Asian country has obtained over the past year.
At the event, the two sides discussed measures to bolster local cooperation between the two countries./.
