October 25, 2017 | 16:05 (GMT+7)
Vietnam seeks to export more farm produces, goods to RoK
A trade exchange event was held in Seoul, the Republic of Korea (RoK) on October 24 to seek to increase the presence of Vietnamese products, especially farm produce and consumer goods, in the RoK market.
Minister-Counselor Tran Anh Vu from the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK and Kim Hyun-myung from the Korea Importers’ Association (KOIMA) highlighted the importance of the RoK market to Vietnamese goods as well as cooperation opportunities between the two countries’ business communities.
The Vietnam-RoK cooperative strategic partnership with an array of collaboration mechanisms in the economy, including the bilateral free trade agreement that took effect from December 20, 2015, has been serving as an important tool to facilitate stronger bilateral trade growth, they agreed.
Meanwhile, Le An Hai, Vice Director of the Asia and African Markets under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, noted that two-way trade in the first nine months of 2017 reached over USD 45 billion, a surge of over 52 percent year on year, higher than the figure of USD 43.4 billion recorded in 2016.
He stressed the efficiency of measures to support enterprises of both sides, including the organization of regular trade exchange activities.
During the event, 17 Vietnamese firms introduced their products to local firms which assessed that Vietnamese products have had improved designs and packages to suit the RoK market and competitive prices with similar products from the Philippines, China, Indonesia and Thailand.
Trade between Vietnam and the RoK increased 87 times since 1992, when they set up diplomatic ties, from USD 500 million to USD 43.4 billion in 2016. Both sides are working together to raise two-way trade to USD 70 billion in 2020.
The RoK is currently the third largest trade partner of Vietnam after China and the US. It is the top foreign investor of Vietnam.
Source: VNA