Vietnamese exporters are suggested to sell products to Laos and Cambodia via international border gates in southern Tay Ninh province to save time and transport cost, it was heard at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on December 12.

According to Le Van Tuong, Deputy Director of the Tay Ninh province’s Centre for Trade, Investment and Tourism Promotion, a majority of southern businesses now export their products to Laos via the Lao Bao International Border Trade in central Quang Tri province – the route is 1,000 km.

If going through Tay Ninh’s Chang Riec and Xa Mat border gates to Cambodia before arriving in Laos, they can shorten travel length by one third, Tuong said, adding that the route was written down in a Memorandum of Understanding on road transportation signed by the three Governments in January, 2013.

Tay Ninh’s total import-export turnover was estimated at nearly 930 million USD in the first nine months of 2013, a year-on-year increase of 16.15 percent. Of the figure, 439.2 million USD came from exports.

The province mainly exports rubber, animal feed, foodstuff and consumer goods, while buying cassava, soybeans, cashew, and timber from other countries.

Themed “Tay Ninh – Gateway to develop Vietnam-Cambodia-Laos border trade”, the seminar offered a venue for delegates to consider the establishment of a multilateral coordination mechanism to support the three countries’ business communities, said Bui Ba Nghiem, head of the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Border Trade Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Vietnam’s total import-export turnover through border gates with Laos and Cambodia from 2008 to September 2013 valued more than 20 billion USD.-VNA