Speakers at the Vietnam-Eurasia Trade Forum (Photo: VNA) In his opening remarks, Ta Hoang Linh, Directorof the European-American Market Department under the Ministry of Industry andTrade (MoIT), said that Eurasia was previously a traditional market of Vietnam andis currently considered a potential export market with an ample room forcooperation. It comprises of 28 countries, stretching from Eastern Europe toCentral Asia, with a total area of about 23.5 million sq.km, a population ofmore than 400 million, and a total GDP of nearly 4.5 trillion USD.
In the first nine months of this year, trade between Vietnam and Eurasiancountries reached 9 billion USD, down 6.5% year-on-year, of which 6.3 billionUSD came from Vietnam’s exports, down 1.2% year-on-year.
This remains a potential market for Vietnamese businesses, as the country’sexport revenue to this market accounts for only 2.4% of its total export value,and about 0.4% of the region’s total import value. Meanwhile, the total capitalof investment projects from this market also makes up only 0.3% of the totalforeign direct investment in Vietnam, Linh stated.
At the forum, speakers from the MoIT, theCentral and Eastern European Business Association, the embassies of the Eurasianregion in Vietnam, and Vietnamese trade offices in this region, andrepresentatives of some large corporations doing successful business inthis region provided useful information about policy trends, cooperation needsand opportunities, and experience in accessing and gaining a firm foothold inthis market.
A talkshow between representatives fromState management agencies, associations and enterprises on opportunities andchallenges when doing business and investing in the Eurasian region wasorganised within the framework of the forum.
Linh said that the MoIT, as the agency incharge of bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation activities,will continue to coordinate with embassies and trade representative offices inthe region in accompanying the business community to take advantage of newcooperation opportunities, remove difficulties and obstacles in tradeactivities, and to complete and carry out comprehensive solutions topromote trade and investment between Vietnam and the European - American marketin general and the Eurasian market in particular./.
VNA
