Vietnam, South Africa explore chances for stronger trade ties

Pretoria (VNA) – Vietnam and South Africa boast substantial potential for expanding bilateral trade, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang told a seminar on economic cooperation in Pretoria on September 14.

The event, held on the sidelines of the celebration of the 30 years of bilateral diplomatic ties, attracted over 150 participants from government agencies, localities, and enterprises of both countries.

In her remarks, Thang noted with satisfaction that Vietnam - South Africa relations have been making progress, creating a driving force for their economic and trade links.

She cited statistics as showing that bilateral trade was on the rise during 2018 - 2022, topping 1.2 billion USD in turnover each year.

Particularly, the two countries hold much potential for expanding bilateral trade since their export structures are basically complementary to each other. This is a favourable condition for their enterprises to consolidate and diversify supply chains, the Vietnamese official said.

South African Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Nomalungelo Gina said she is impressed with the strong economic and trade development of Vietnam, and shared Thang’s view that the two markets are complementary to each other.

She also perceived that there remains huge potential for economic and trade partnerships, and called on both sides to exert stronger efforts to seek cooperation chances and connect their enterprises in such industries as automobile, chemical, fertiliser, textile - garment, farm produce and food processing, mining, timber processing, paper pulp, and pharmaceutical.

At the seminar, representatives of the two ministries, administrations of some South African localities like Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, and enterprises of the countries looked into cooperation potential and opportunities in trade, industry, energy, and pharmaceutical production.

On September 13, the delegation of Vietnamese businesses had meetings with some South African partners to discuss partnerships./.