
Pretoria (VNA) - Representatives from Vietnamese and South African enterprises attendeda seminar themed “Doing Businesswith Vietnam 2018”, in Johannesburg city on June 26 as part of the ongoing 25th South African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX).
Organsed by the Vietnamese Embassy in SouthAfrica, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) of Vietnam and the JohannesburgChamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), the event offered a chance for the twosides’ firms to study issues related to business and investment, such as taxand incentive policies, payment procedures and business risks.
Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador Vu Van Dung stressed this is partof diplomatic activities to promote economic and trade links between the twocountries, towards lifting two-way trade to 1.5 billion USD by 2020.
Vice President of the JCCI Jacki Luthuli hoped that trade promotion activitieswould help turn potential into practical results, bringing economic benefits tothe two nations’ business communities and contributing to tightening bilateral diplomaticties.
At the seminar, participants introduced their countries’ products of strengthsuch as coffee, rice, textiles and construction materials of Vietnam, and miningand agricultural products and meat of South Africa.
Previously, on June 25, the MoIT’s trade promotion delegation and theVietnamese Embassy had working sessions with officials from the ministries ofmining, industry and trade, foreign affairs and health of South Africa,during which the two sides updated each other on information related to sectorsof common concern and discussed plans to strengthen trade bonds.
Vietnam sent eight enterprises to attend SAITEX 2018 - the largest trade fairin Africa, which features nearly 400 enterprises from 36 countries, and hopes todraw thousands of visitors.
According to the MoIT, South Africa is the leading trade partner of Vietnam inAfrica. Over the last decade, two-way trade between Vietnam and South Africaincreased more than five times to 920 million USD in 2013 from only 192 millionUSD in 2007. The figure hit about 1.2billion USD in 2017.-VNA