A view at the conference “Textiles: India – Vietnam Cooperation, Partners in Progress” in Ho Chi Minh City on April 11. (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – A conference, entitled “Textiles: India – Vietnam Cooperation, Partners in Progress”, was held by the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City on April 11, aiming to boost trade relations between the two countries in textiles.
Addressing the event, Consul General of India K. Srikar Reddy said Vietnam’s textile industry has huge potential and more and more Indian investors are interested in doing business in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, India is a supplier of high-quality materials, fabrics and machinery at competitive prices and is also a market of 1.3 billion people, Reddy noted.
The government of India is encouraging investment in the textile industry by allowing all foreign direct investment (FDI) to enter the sector without government approval, he added.
Truong Van Cam, Vice President of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), said Vietnam’s textile sector is growing rapidly but in an unbalanced way as the country has limited domestic supply of materials like cotton.
He warned that if Vietnam does not improve self-supply capacity, the country will not be able to take full advantage of benefits brought by free trade agreements.
According to Cam, Vietnam is in great demand of quality yarn and fabric at reasonable prices. He expected that with strength in technology and textile material production, India will provide Vietnam with effective support in this field. Enhanced cooperation between businesses of the two countries will help both sides offset their limitations and boost production and expand markets, he said.
During the conference, enterprises from the two sides showed their desire to develop links in the sector through accelerating trade promotion and information exchange.
India runs 176 FDI projects in Vietnam with total investment of 814 million USD, making it Vietnam’s 28th largest investor.
Last year, Vietnam exported 31 billion USD worth of textile and garment products, up 10.23 percent from the same period last year while its imports of textile and garment materials, mostly yarns and fabrics, amounted to 19 billion USD.
India’s textile-garment shipments to Vietnam hit 429 million USD in 2017, a year-on-year surge of 44 percent while its imports from Vietnam were estimated at 178 million USD, up 42 percent.
The two countries aim to bring bilateral trade to 15 billion USD by 2020.-VNA
VNA
