VN-Latin America chase trade

03:06, 12/06/2012

Businesses in southern provinces were urged to attend a ministerial level forum on trade and investment between Viet Nam and Latin America to be held in Ha Noi early next month.

A worker at Vikyno Company in Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park in southern Dong Nai Province checks products before exporting to Latin America countries. Trade and investment between Viet Nam and the market are huge.
A worker at Vikyno Company in Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park in Dong Nai Province checks products before exporting to Latin America countries. Trade and investment between Viet Nam and the market are huge.

Businesses in southern provinces were urged to attend a ministerial level forum on trade and investment between Viet Nam and Latin America to be held in Ha Noi early next month.

Addressing a press conference held yesterday on the first such forum to be held in the country, Nguyen Hoanh Nam, Deputy Director of the Americas Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said it was an important foreign affairs initiative aimed at boosting bilateral and multilateral trade and investment co-operation between Viet Nam and Latin America.

The forum will be a good opportunity for businesses on both sides to exchange information, seek invest-ment opportunities and sign co-operation agreements, he said.

Delegates from 27 Latin American countries including ministers and deputy ministers in charge of international trade and investment, represent-atives from Latin American embassies in Viet Nam and representatives of businesses from the continent operating in Viet Nam or interested in doing business here are expected to participate in the forum.

The prospects for trade and investment ties between Viet Nam and Latin American countries are huge, Nam said.

With a GDP of more than US$5.5 trillion and a population of 580 million, Latin America represents great investment opportunities for Vietnamese companies.

Viet Nam's main exports to Latin American countries are rice, textiles, seafood, rubber and coffee. It imports animal feed, raw materials for textiles and garments, steel, chemicals and medicine.

To date, Vietnamese firms have pledged to invest $7 billion in the region while Latin American countries plan to invest $3 billion in Viet Nam.

The forum will look into the background of Viet Nam – Latin America relations; potentials and oppor-tunities; advantages and obstacles to trade, economic and investment relations between the two sides; and co-operation orientations.

(Source: VNS)