Ottawa (VNA) – As Vietnam is a core part of Canada’s Indo-PacificStrategy, both countries boast numerous opportunities for trade development when  the Southeast Asian country becomes the largest trading partner of Canada in theregion, a Canadian official has said.

Vice President for Indo-Pacific at Export Development Canada (EDC) GeorgeMonize told the Vietnam News Agency's resident correspondent in Ottawa that his agency is working to providedomestic firms with necessary information about the Vietnamese market, and offerthem with financial and insurance support so that they could make moreachievements in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, President of Groupe Engram Remy Franzoni described Vietnam as awonderful trading partner thanks to the country’s status as a global production hub,golden population and middle-income boom.

He highlighted that Vietnam is one of the attractive destinations for Canadianenterprises, elaborating the country has competitive labour and business costsalong with advantages brought by free trade agreements it has clinched.

Canadian Minister of ExportPromotion, International Trade and Economic Development Mary Ng recently held a dialogue with Canadian businesses and associations and trade representativesfrom Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia in preparation for a Canadian tradedelegation’s visit to Vietnam and Malaysia at the end of March.

At the event, she briefed the Canadian enterprises on the Indo-PacificStrategy, in which Canada focuses on promoting trade and investment ties with itspartners in the region.

Commerce has played an important part in Canada’s economic development strategy,she said, adding as the country plans to increase its presence and trade tieswith Indo-Pacific – a region with the most dynamic economic growth in theworld, it is accelerating negotiations for a free trade pact with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), andexpects the two sides could ink the deal in 2025.

Vietnamese Trade Counsellor in Canada Tran Thu Quynh said that besides accelerating the signing of an ASEAN – Canada trade agreement, Vietnam and Canada should prepare a deepercooperation mechanism in the fields of digital economy and green economy in thecontext that ASEAN is establishing a regional digital economic framework.

As the Chair of the Commission of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreementfor Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in 2024 and Chair of the G7 Group in2025, Canada could make further contributions to promoting trade liberalisationand improving the efficiency of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), accordingto Quynh.

Besides, Canada could become a gateway for enterprises from Vietnam and otherASEAN member states to penetrate the North American market, she added.

Over the past time, Canada’s trade exchange with Vietnam and Malaysia has beenbacked by the CPTPP of which the three nations are members.

Vietnam is currently the largest trading partner of Canada in ASEAN and is one ofthe economies with the highest economic growth that can bring trade and investmentopportunities to Canadian firms. Last year, two-way trade topped 10 billionUSD.

Meanwhile, Malaysia is also an important partner of Canada in the bloc, withtwo-way trade reaching nearly 6 billion USD in 2023./.