Vietnam, Canada to increase bilateral trade turnover to $10B
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Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh wants Vietnam and Brazil to strive to bring two-way trade turnover to 10 billion USD by 2025 and 15-20 billion USD by 2030.
On the morning of September 24 (same time and date as Vietnam), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held a discussion with representatives of Brazilian businesses on the occasion of his official visit to this country.
Government leaders said that after nearly 35 years of establishing diplomatic relations, especially since the establishment of the Comprehensive Partnership in 2007, the Vietnam - Brazil cooperative relationship has continued to develop positively. In all fields, political relations are increasingly close and trusting.
Vietnam and Brazil are currently each other's largest trading partners in Southeast Asia and South America, with trade turnover in 2022 reaching a record level of about 6.78 billion USD, an increase of 6.6% compared to 2021, which has tripled in the past decade. However, according to the Prime Minister, more is needed. The room is still large because Brazil is a populous country with a large market, suitable for the goods of Vietnam - a developing country.
The head of the Vietnamese Government said that businesses of the two countries may need more information, do not fully understand each other's markets and are afraid of geographical distance. However, nowadays, aviation and shipping are developed and can quickly transport people and goods.
Therefore, the two countries can find common ground on products that complement each other, such as Vietnam, which can import cotton, soybeans, and corn from Brazil and export leather, footwear, textile and garment products, agricultural products, and electronic goods. Tomorrow, he will talk with the President of Brazil to discuss major solutions to promote relations between the two countries.
"When you come to Vietnam to invest and cooperate in trade, you can rest assured, as Vietnamese people often say, when the weather is favourable, the situation is favourable. The problem is that we find ways to come together and strengthen the connection between businesses of the two countries. ", said the Government leader.
He said that Vietnam is currently focusing on three strategic breakthroughs:
- Perfecting market economic institutions with a socialist orientation
- Administrative reform, training high-quality human resources, meeting the labour needs of the new era
- Developing infrastructure, especially transportation and telecommunications infrastructure. It helps businesses reduce input costs and increase competitiveness.
Vietnam fully supports Brazil opening an Office of the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam, suggesting that the two sides further promote science and technology transfer and strengthen connections to understand, share, cooperate, and develop.
Appreciating the willingness of Brazilian businesses to cooperate, the Prime Minister said that Vietnam actively negotiates with Brazil free trade agreements, investment protection, avoidance of double taxation... to create favourable conditions for businesses to cooperate and develop.
He suggested that businesses from both sides actively participate and concretize cooperation mechanisms into specific programs and projects. From there, we strive to bring two-way trade turnover to 10 billion USD by 2025, reaching 15-20 billion USD by 2030 in a more balanced direction.
For more information about the economic and trade situation between the two countries, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said that in 1989, when the two countries established relations, two-way trade turnover reached 16 million USD, but by 2022, This number had reached 6.8 billion USD, an increase of more than 400 times.
Mr. Dien also emphasized that the potential for development cooperation between Vietnam and Brazil is still very large. Brazilian businesses investing in Vietnam exploit Vietnam's market of 100 million people and ASEAN's market of 600 million people. On the contrary, if Brazil opens up, Vietnam will also have the opportunity to export to the Brazilian market of more than 200 million people and the South American market of more than 400 million people.
According to the Minister of Industry and Trade, Vietnam is promoting negotiations and signing the Vietnam - MERCOSUR trade agreement, including Brazil. Vietnam has become one of the world's factories. In the last 3 years, Vietnam has been one of the 20 countries with the largest trade scale in the world.
He said that Vietnam's upgrading of relations with the US to the level of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership would help the wave of investment shifting from US multinational companies and developed countries into Vietnam. Raw material resources will increase. Therefore, he suggested that Brazilian businesses increase the supply of raw materials to Vietnam, especially new industries, such as semiconductor technology.
At the seminar, Brazilian businesses said they were eager to cooperate with Vietnam in agriculture and some emerging industries such as wind energy and renewable industry. Some companies proposed cooperating with Vietnam to participate in the global supply chain, opening the door for them to export some products to Vietnam, such as chicken meat and chicken wings, in addition to traditional products, such as cotton and corn.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh officially visited Brazil from September 23 to 26, at the invitation of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, after ending his trip to the US.
