A trade fair and seminar event promoting Malaysian palm oil sales toVietnam on July 1 attracted over 200 business representatives fromboth countries.
"The event provides an excellent opportunity toestablish a network among representatives from the oil and fatindustry," said YB Dato' Seri Douglas Uggah Embas, Malaysia's Ministerof Plantation Industries and Commodities, at the one-day event, whichwas jointly organised by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council and MalaysianPalm Oil Board.
He said Malaysia is optimistic about palm-oilsales, especially in light of Vietnam 's economic development andimproved living standards.
To meet the increasinglysophisticated demands of Vietnamese consumers, the minister encouragedcompanies to embark on collaborative initiatives to further enhancetrade relations in palm oil.
Palm oil imports from Malaysia have supplemented 54 percent of Vietnam 's demand gap, said the minister.
Last year, almost 470,000 tonnes of Malaysian palm oil was exported to Vietnam , up 11.7 percent compared to 2011.
The figure for the first four months of this year was 147,000 tonnes, up 64 percent from last year's corresponding period.
Malaysia is the world's second largest exporter of palm oils.
Speaking at the event, Nguyen Thi Hong, Vice Chairwoman of the HCMCity People's Committee, praised the two countries' trade ties, notingthat this is the 40th year of diplomatic relations between Malaysiaand Vietnam .
Bilateral trade increased from 4.7 million USD in 2007 to 7.9 billion USD in 2012.
Malaysia is a major foreign investor in Vietnam, with a totalinvestment of 15 billion USD (as of the end of 2012), up from 50 millionUSD in 1990.-VNA