Pakistan, Vietnam want outstanding cooperation in trade, investment: Envoy Phong

LAHORE - The Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, H. E. Mr Nguyen Tien Phong has said that lack of information was one of the major reasons for the lack of strong growth in trade and relations between Vietnam and Pakistan.

While briefing the media at the Associated House here on Tuesday, Mr Phong said that Vietnam wants to have good relations with Pakistan.

“Our Embassy sees that the number of trade disputes between companies is increasing year by year. The kind of disputes are varying, mostly related to the payment. We hope that both sides will give more support to each other in dealing with these cases in order to build trust among our business community. The main reasons for low bilateral trade between Vietnam and Pakistan are the lack of information about each other and the low level of interaction, transportation, logistics and Halal regulations. Similarly, there is no bilateral investment treaty so far between both countries,” he said.

Mr Phong welcomed general and special business and investment delegations from Pakistan in general and tea import/export business in particular.

“The Embassy of Vietnam will provide full support for linking Pakistani enterprises with Vietnamese partners to do business in Vietnam. Vietnam is considering the proposals of Pakistan to sign an agreement on expanding aggregation for a number of products for Pakistan to take advantage of GSP incentives from the EU. The third Bilateral Political Consultation and the fifth Meeting of Viet Nam - Pakistan Joint Commission on Trade are scheduled in the first half of 2023 tentatively. This is a useful mechanism for the government of Pakistan and the government of Vietnam to meet and discuss how to increase trade between Pakistan and Vietnam for economic growth and both countries’ people benefit in the context of globalization in market integration and development of information technology,” he added.

He informed that trade volume between Pakistan and Vietnam has increased from 54 million USD in 2005 to more than 700 million USD in 2017 and reduced in recent years due to some reasons, especially after the Covid-19 Pandemic.

“Although, the volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Vietnam reached more than US$ 794 million in 2021, an increase of 54.41 percent compared to 2020 and in 2022, the figure continuously climbed to more than US$ 904 million (approximately US$ 1 billion), increase 12.17 percent to compare to the previous year, " he said.

"During 2021, Vietnam's exports to Pakistan US$ 598 million, increased to 50.67 percent and imports from Pakistan 196 million USD, increased by 66.97 percent compared to 2020. In 2022, Vietnam's exports to Pakistan above US$ 600 million, increased to 0.33% and imports from Pakistan above US$ 303 million, increased to approximately 35.31% compared to the preceding year, " he informed.  

However, it is still very low compared to the huge potential of both sides. Vietnam’s main product exported to Pakistan in 2022 was mobile phones and electronic components of them at the highest position (193 million USD), tea (102 million USD); followed by synthetic yarn and textile, black pepper, natural rubber, and fish products as Pakistan is importing about 95 percent of Pegasus from Vietnam, cashew nut, iron and steel, machinery and equipment, chemical while key imports items from Pakistan were fabrics, leather, pharmaceutical products, cotton yarn.

"Moreover, investment between both countries is still very limited. In 2022, Pakistan has three new investment projects in Vietnam with a capital of 946 thousand USD. Pakistan invests in the fields of textiles, and manufacturing of medical equipment,” he concluded.