Vietnam, Argentina enhance economic and trade links
VOV.VN -The Vietnam-Argentina Inter-governmental Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation convened its 6th meeting in Buenos Aires over October 25- 26 under the co-chair of Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai and Horacio Reyser, Secretary for International Economic Relations at the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship.
In his remarks, Reyser highlighted considerable progress in bilateral relations as well as the importance of the Argentina-Vietnam comprehensive partnership, as evidenced by regular delegation exchange to promote trade cooperation.
The joint implementation of technical projects was seen as a contributory factor to closer bilateral cooperation after the committee’s fifth meeting held in Hanoi in 2016 and its mid-term meeting in Buenos Aires in October 2017, he said.
The official stated that Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship Jorge Faurie was accompanied by a multi-sector business delegation during his visit to Vietnam with the aim of increasing existing dialogue channels between the two countries and seeking new cooperation opportunities on pharmaceuticals, bio-technology, medical machines, food (particularly poultry and beef), seafood, and fruit.
Based on the unanimous agreement, the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) is destined to conduct a pre-feasibility dialogue with Vietnam towards negotiations on a free trade agreement between Mercosur and Vietnam, Reyser said, adding that as a member of Mercosur, Argentina will update Vietnam on the bloc’s stance on the issue.
In response, Hai extolled the thriving friendship and all-around cooperation between Vietnam and Argentina since the two countries established diplomatic ties 45 years ago, with the signing of agreements on economics, trade, investment, agriculture, and science-technology.
The two nations have worked closely on the implementation of technical cooperation projects within the framework of the Argentine Fund for South-South and Triangular Cooperation (FOAR), yielding positive and beneficial results. They have also fostered partnership in culture, tourism, sports, and education, especially Spanish language teaching.
He proposed increasing the sharing of information and the exchange of business delegations, trade-investment promotions, and cross-cultural exchange aiming to step up bilateral trade and investment and multifaceted cooperation on a wide range of fields.
At the meeting, the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Argentine Investment and Trade Promotion Agency (AAICI) signed a memorandum of understanding on facilitating bilateral trade and investment promotion activities.
Last year’s bilateral trade between Vietnam and Argentina reached US$3.03 billion, including US$482 million from Vietnam’s exports and US$2.55 billion from its imports. In terms of investment, Argentina has operated four projects worth US$284,000, ranked 106 out of 129 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.