Muslim foreigners shop at a Halal food store in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: VNA)With total population of more than 170 million, the world’sfourth largest, and GDP reaching nearly 1.19 trillion USD last year, theIndonesian market is viewed as promising for Vietnamese products, he told the Vietnam News Agency, adding Indonesia andVietnam share cultural similarities and Vietnamese goodshave gained a foothold in Indonesia with rising export turnover from theregional partner.
Bilateral trade grew to 11.5 billion USD last year from 6.81billion USD in 2017. The figure hit 9.39 billion USD in the first eight monthsof this year, up 25.3% year on year, with Vietnam’s exports surging 22.8% to3.08 billion USD.
Yet, Vietnam goods are subject to numerousnon-tariff barriers from its Southeast Asian peer, including quotas, Halalcertification, Indonesian National Standard (SNI), local content requirementsand trade remedies, according to the official. Indonesia’sgeography, with its thousands of islands, causes relatively higher logistics costsfor imports from Vietnam and the country has a similar structure of keyagricultural products with Vietnam.
To boost sales to Indonesia, the office have joined hands with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry(KADIN)’s local chapters, Indonesian retailers’ and importers’ associations in hosting workshops to popularise Vietnamese products in multiple sectors.
To deal with the 2-year restrictions aimed at fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the officehas accelerated trade promotion with Indonesia through virtual businessmatching events and consultation sessions. It has supported Vietnam’s milk,cheese and instant “pho” products to gain access to Indonesia.
Additionally, it has worked to lure Indonesian FDI into Vietnam. Since the beginning of 2022, three Indonesian companies, one ofwhich is a cooking oil producer, have been assisted to take necessary legalsteps to invest in Vietnam. A Vietnamese retailing chain is about to launch itsfirst store in Jakarta thanks to the office’s help.
Attention has also been placed on helping Vietnamese exportersreceive Halal certification and protecting legitimate rights and benefits ofVietnamese businesses./.
VNA
