Vietnam, Argentina boost trade cooperation

An overview of the workshop. (Photo: VNA)

Buenos Aires (VNA) – A workshop was held on November 25 to provide information about the market and import policies of Argentina to Vietnamese enterprises, towards the expansion and diversification of goods exchanged between the two sides.

The workshop, entitled "Exploiting the potential for trade development between Vietnam and Argentina", was organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in Argentina.

Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador Duong Quoc Thanh said that bilateral relations between the two countries have always developed well since the establishment of diplomatic ties nearly 50 years ago. Trade has been a bright spot after the two countries established a comprehensive partnership in 2010 with an increase in two-way exchange turnover from 1 billion USD to nearly 4 billion USD in 2020. However, the Vietnamese Ambassador said that trade exchange between the two countries still focuses on main items such as corn, soybeans, animal feed and pharmaceuticals from Argentina, as well as phone components from Vietnam. He attributed it to the lack of information about each other's needs, tastes and market access methods by businesses.

Thanh affirmed that the conference offered an opportunity to provide information and seek ways to solve difficulties related to market access for businesses of the two sides, contributing to promoting trade and bringing qualified products to their residents.

For his part, Martin Schapiro, Advisor to the Minister of Productive, said that Argentina always attaches importance to the partnership with Vietnam and that cooperation between the two countries has made steady progress in recent years, reflected through the effective implementation of collaboration programmes in many fields such as trade, culture and health.

Despite facing many difficulties, especially the past two years, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Argentina's economy is gradually recovering and is a potential market for foreign partners, including Vietnam, he said.

Schapiro expressed his hope that through this seminar, Vietnamese businesses will gain a lot of useful information which opens new export orientations to the Argentine market.

On this occasion, representatives of the Mercosur-ASEAN Chambers of Commerce, the Coffee Chamber of Commerce and Argentine Chamber of Import Promotion also shared information and introduced about corporate culture and tastes of the Argentine people, as well as such as answering questions and suggesting approaches to the Argentine market for Vietnamese businesses./.