Speakers at the Vietnam-Eurasia Trade Forum (Photo: VNA) In his opening remarks, Ta Hoang Linh, Director of the European-American Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), said that Eurasia was previously a traditional market of Vietnam and is currently considered a potential export market with an ample room for cooperation. It comprises of 28 countries, stretching from Eastern Europe to Central Asia, with a total area of about 23.5 million sq.km, a population of more than 400 million, and a total GDP of nearly 4.5 trillion USD.
In the first nine months of this year, trade between Vietnam and Eurasian countries reached 9 billion USD, down 6.5% year-on-year, of which 6.3 billion USD came from Vietnam’s exports, down 1.2% year-on-year.
This remains a potential market for Vietnamese businesses, as the country’s export revenue to this market accounts for only 2.4% of its total export value, and about 0.4% of the region’s total import value. Meanwhile, the total capital of investment projects from this market also makes up only 0.3% of the total foreign direct investment in Vietnam, Linh stated.
At the forum, speakers from the MoIT, the Central and Eastern European Business Association, the embassies of the Eurasian region in Vietnam, and Vietnamese trade offices in this region, and representatives of some large corporations doing successful business in this region provided useful information about policy trends, cooperation needs and opportunities, and experience in accessing and gaining a firm foothold in this market.
A talkshow between representatives from State management agencies, associations and enterprises on opportunities and challenges when doing business and investing in the Eurasian region was organised within the framework of the forum.
Linh said that the MoIT, as the agency in charge of bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation activities, will continue to coordinate with embassies and trade representative offices in the region in accompanying the business community to take advantage of new cooperation opportunities, remove difficulties and obstacles in trade activities, and to complete and carry out comprehensive solutions to promote trade and investment between Vietnam and the European - American market in general and the Eurasian market in particular./.
VNA
