Vietnam, Pakistan Can Use Each Others Strength: Envoy

Vietnam Ambassador Nguyen Tien Phong said on Tuesday that Vietnam and Pakistan can use each other’s strength. Pakistan can avail the opportunities from FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) of Vietnam with EU (European Union), USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and others and similarly Vietnam can benefit from Pakistan’s GSP Plus Status

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Mar, 2024) Vietnam Ambassador Nguyen Tien Phong said on Tuesday that Vietnam and Pakistan can use each other’s strength. Pakistan can avail the opportunities from FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) of Vietnam with EU (European Union), USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and others and similarly Vietnam can benefit from Pakistan’s GSP Plus Status.

He was talking to President of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Kashif Anwar here at LCCI. Executive Committee Members Mian Attiq-ur-Rehman, Raja Hassan Akhter and Hakeem Muhammad Usman were also present.

The Ambassador said that Pakistan is a big country and has vast potential which can be used to promote trade between Vietnam and Pakistan.

He called for promoting business-to-business and people-to-people contacts, and said that e-visa is important to promote business activities. The Ambassador also highlighted the potential sectors where the two countries can collaborate. He mentioned tourism and said that the delegations and contacts are important.

While highlighting textile sector, he said that Vietnam imports yarn and cotton from Pakistan, makes garments and exports to EU, Japan and USA and Pakistan can also import fibre from Vietnam to produce fabric for export purposes. He said that the IT is another field where affiliations are important as Vietnam currently affiliated with Japan, India, South Korea and other countries. He said that Pakistan has a very strong IT labour force and both the countries can have joint ventures in this field.

The Ambassador said that agriculture is also a very important sector which can produce many fruitful results. He mentioned the Vietnam success from starving insecure food supply before 1986 to third biggest rice exporter in 1989. He also highlighted the potential sectors including Halal food, sea food, fish farming and others.

LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that both Vietnam and Pakistan enjoy more than 50 years of sound diplomatic relations that were formally established in 1972. Besides these ties, both countries enjoy trade and economic cooperation in diverse fields. He said that despite starting as one of the weaker economies in the mid of 1970s and 1980s, Vietnam emerged against all the odds. Following the path of rapid economic growth, Vietnam showed impressive progress in industrial, agricultural and services sectors. That was the result of a broad-based economic transformation which opened the Vietnam economy to international markets and foreign trade. It is pertinent to mention that the global exports of Vietnam have surpassed US $ 370 billion while the global imports of Vietnam have crossed US $ 358 billion.

"We have a lot to learn from Vietnam economic model," he added.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, he said, Pakistan’s exports to Vietnam dropped from US $ 261 million in 2021-22 to US $ 244 million in 2022-23. In the same period, the imports from Vietnam also decreased from US $ 578 million to US $ 229 million. In the first seven months of the current financial year (July 2023 to January 2024), Pakistan’s exports to Vietnam stood at US $ 248 million while the imports were US $ 165 million.

He added, "We should target to take the level of bilateral trade volume to at least US $ 2 billion through providing better market access to exporters in both countries." Pakistan’s main exports to Vietnam consist of corn, woven fabrics of cotton, and leather. On the other hand, Pakistan imports from Vietnam include electronic equipment, synthetic filament yarn, natural rubber and tea etc.

The LCCI President said that the potential sectors where Pakistan can enhance its exports to Vietnam includes seafood, processed meat, pharmaceutical products, fruits and vegetables. Moreover, there is tremendous room for collaboration in the Information Technology and Tourism sectors.

He said that there is a need to find new avenues of trade between Pakistan and Vietnam because Vietnam being an active member of ASEAN, holds great importance for Pakistan. Both countries should explore the possibility of a signing Free Trade Agreement which can provide better market access to business communities from Pakistan and Vietnam.

He particularly mentioned about the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) established by the Government of Pakistan to primarily focus on expediting new investments in five areas including Defence, Agriculture, Minerals, Information Technology / Telecommunication and Energy. He hoped the Ambassador would apprise the investors from Vietnam about these investment opportunities in Pakistan under SIFC.

Kashif Anwar was of the view that increasing the frequency of direct flights, strengthening of banking channels, organizing trade delegations and holding single country exhibitions on reciprocal basis would prove to be effective in opening new avenues that are much needed for enhancing the mutual trade relations.

He said that respective commercial sections of our missions can play an important role in enhancing the knowledge about each other’s markets by sharing market survey reports with their chambers of Commerce on regular basis.