India, Vietnam eye closer garment cooperation
(VOV) - Representatives of nearly 160 garment and textile makers from Vietnam and India gathered in Nam Dinh province on September 26 to share experience and seek cooperation opportunities.
Do Huu Huy, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Africa and South West Asia Market Department, said diversifying supplies of garment materials is an effective remedy for the garment sector to reduce the overreliance on a certain supplier.
Pham Quang Thinh, Deputy Head of the External Relations Department under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said to make up 10% of the global market share, the Vietnamese garment sector must meet requirements on certificate of origin (C/O) in the supply chain.
Some garment importers of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement ask exporters to specify products of clear origin if they want to enjoy a zero tax rate. Meanwhile, Vietnam, a TPP negotiator, just meets 50% of its material demand for production.
This is a golden opportunity for foreign businesses, including Indians, to invest in Vietnam’s textile industry to to anticipate the TPP, Thinh said.
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Mohit, a representative from the Indian Business Chamber in Hanoi, said India is the world’s second largest exporter of garment materials, accounting for 13.52% of the global market share. Vietnam is one of the world’s leading garment exporters but it much depends on input materials. India just supplies 2% of input materials for Vietnam. Thus, the two countries have huge potential for cooperation in the future.
India is one of the top ten trade partners of Vietnam. Two-way trade turnover hit US$5.2 billion last year, a year-on-year increase of 30%, of which Vietnamese exports were nearly US$2.3 billion.
The trade value reached US$3.8 billion in the eight months of this year and is expected to surpass US$15 billion by 2020.
Vietnam mainly exports telephone handsets, computers, electronics and components, coal, rubber, mine, plastics, chemicals and pepper while imports pharmaceuticals, animal food, machinery, equipment and materials for production.
By August 2014, India had invested in 83 projects in Vietnam with a combined capitalisation of US$256.26 million, mainly in manufacturing and mining industry.