Room remains for Vietnam, Canada to expand trade cooperation
Hanoi (VNA) – Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Canada increased
by 12.8 percent last year and 28.5 percent in the first seven months of this
year, reflecting a reliable and complementary trading partnership, Vietnamese
Ambassador to Canada Pham Cao Phong has said.
He
made the statement at a seminar entitled “Vietnam-Canada Supply Chains Cooperation:
Present and Future” held in both virtual and in-person forms on October 15. It aimed to explore opportunities to foster
collaboration between Vietnamese and Canadian companies in supply chains in the current and post-COVID era.
The
Vietnamese diplomat said the friendship and the growing cooperative
relationship between Vietnam and Canada provide a firm foundation for a reliable
and sustainable supply chain.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
(CPTPP), of which Vietnam and Canada are founding members, offers tax
incentives for trading in both consumer goods and raw materials. This factor
creates favourable conditions for trade, providing goods, services and
materials for production lines in the context of the turbulent global economic
environment, ensuring human and economic security of the two countries, Phong
said.
Echoed the opinion of Phong, Senator Victor Oh emphasised that although the
COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected global trade, statistics show trade ties between Vietnam and Canada remain firm, proving that there are still growth opportunities to explore. Since
2015, Vietnam has been Canada's largest trading partner in ASEAN. Canada has
removed 94 percent of the total tariff lines on goods importing from Vietnam within
the framework of CPTPP, and Vietnam has abolished 66 percent of tariff lines on Canadian goods.
Jay
Allen, Executive Director for
the Trade Policy and Negotiations – Asia Division at Global Affairs Canada (GAC) said the CPTPP is a
great success for businesses as well as consumers in Vietnam and Canada. Given
the two countries' deep ties, trade cooperation has just begun, he said.
Ambassador Phong recommended that in order to adapt to the new normal situation in the post-COVID-19 period, businesses of the two countries
need to further discuss the establishment of a common
governance support centre, the B2B model ( transaction conducting between two companies), research and development (R&D), after-sales
service, digitisation and digital security.
With a GDP growth rate of 1.42 percent
in the first nine months of this year, Vietnam is an attractive destination for
investment and business activities thanks to its political and macroeconomic
stability as well as dynamic and abundant human resources.
As a founding member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Vietnam can act as a bridge
for Canadian businesses to reach a
market of 2.2 billion people, or almost 30 percent of the world's population,
with a combined GDP of 26.2 trillion USD or about 30 percent of global GDP. In
the opposite direction, Canada can be a door for Vietnamese goods to penetrate
the US and Mexican markets - members of the new North American Free Trade
Agreement./.