As many as 60 businesses from the Indian State of Gujarat took part in a workshop themed “Doing business with Vietnam” held by Gurajat EXIM Club in Vadodara city, India, on January 13.

Addressing the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to India Ton Sinh Thanh gave participants an overview of socio-economic situation and business climate in Vietnam.

He also suggested potential fields for business partnership between the two countries, such as textiles, pharmaceutical and chemical products, electronics, machinery, and agricultural products.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and India has expanded by 10-12 percent annually during recent years and reached 6 billion USD in 2014.

The figure will be augmented if the two sides can make full use of the free trade agreement between India and ASEAN as well as preferential credits that the Indian government provides to Vietnam, he added.

For his part, EXIM Club’s President Amitabh Nagori expressed his hope to boost cooperation in trade and investment with Vietnam.

He said a delegation of enterprises from Vadodara city will attend the VietnamExpo slated for April this year in Hanoi to learn about the markets and seek business opportunities.

Representatives from several companies, such as 20 Microns, Rubicon, and Baroda Greases, shared their experience in operating in Vietnam, highlighting a young and self-motivated labour force, growing market and improved infrastructure and administrative procedures as strong points of the country.

However, they pointed to language difference and a lack of business information as difficulties in running a business in Vietnam.-VNA