The business circle needs to exert more efforts to foster trade and investment between Vietnam and Chile, particularly when the bilateral free trade agreement has been enforced since January 1, 2014, said Nguyen The Hung, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

At a workshop introducing the Chilean market on December 16, Hung further said the enforcement of the FTA with Chile, which has the second biggest trade revenue in Latin America, will offer a multitude of opportunities for enterprises to do business.

The stable growth in two-way trade has also laid a firm foundation for their investors, exporters, and importers to make further inroads into each other’s market, he added.

Chile has advantages in mining, metallurgy, fishing, wine making, and food processing which turn out products in line with Vietnam’s demand. Meanwhile, the Southeast Asian country’s main exports to Chile include footwear, garments, agricultural products, and wood and plastic products, Hung explained.

Nguyen Thanh Quang, a representative from the Chilean Consulate General’s Trade Office in HCM City, said Chile with a stable political system and a transparent investment climate will be a gateway for Vietnamese goods to enter other markets since the Latin American nation currently ships commodities to the US, China, and Japan, among others.

Vietnamese firms can pour money into potential fields in Chile such as food industry, forestry, services, mining, and metallurgy, he added.

Two-way trade has balanced over the last three years with the turnover topping 530 million USD in 2013, including nearly 220 million USD of Vietnamese exports.

In the first ten months of 2014, bilateral trade surged to over 710 million USD, including nearly 420 million USD of Vietnamese shipments.-VNA