Seminar promotes Vietnam-India trade ties
A seminar introducing cooperation potential between Vietnam and India in the domains of agriculture and processed food was organised on January 18 as part of the ongoing Global Food & Beverage Show of India in Uttar Pradesh, India.
Addressing the event, Santosh Kumar Sarangi from India’s Ministry of Industry and Trade highlighted the recent impressive growth in two-way trade, and suddenly development of cooperation in processed food between the two nations.
Meanwhile, Do Huu Huy from the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed measures to expand bilateral trade, emphasising the need to forge exchange of visits, information sharing, and organisation of trade fairs.
According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam-India trade hit US$7.63 billion in 2017, up 41% year-on-year, and five times higher than that of 2007.
Vietnam imports aquatic products, vegetables and animal feed from India while exporting coffee, pepper, cashew nut and seafood to the Southern Asia country.
Vietnam’s export turnover to India surged by 21 times, from US$180 million in 2007 to US$3.76 billion in 2017.
In the framework of the Show, a number of programmes were also arranged to introduce opportunities and potential for the development of food and beverages industry in India.Events to promote exchange with India exporters were included, making it easy for participants to seek partners and business opportunities.
Food and beverages industry is one of the important sectors that India gives priority to. The country is now the world leading producer of many agricultural commodities such as milk, rice, wheat, tea, cane sugar and spice.
India’s food processing industry values at US$258 billion, and the country’s food market attracted US$6.82 billion in foreign direct investment in the period 2000-2016. India’s agricultural product and food export is forecast to reach US$70 billion in 2020.