Long An (VNA) – Chances for trade and investmentcooperation with Singapore and Malaysia under the Comprehensive and ProgressiveAgreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) were highlighted at a workshopheld in the southern province of Long An on August 30.
Do Phuong Dung, Deputy Director of theAsia-Africa Market Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, saidVietnam-Singapore relations have been developing unceasingly in recent years.
Singapore is one of the biggest ASEAN tradepartners of Vietnam with bilateral trade reaching 7.66 billion USD in 2018,including 3.14 billion USD of Vietnam’s exports.
Meanwhile, Malaysia is also a largest tradepartner when bilateral trade hit 11.5 billion USD last year, including 4billion USD of Vietnam’s exports.
Vice Chairman of the Long An People’s CommitteePham Van Canh said among the 576 foreign direct investment projects in the province,Singapore has invested 521 million USD in 36 projects while Malaysia 37 millionUSD in 12 projects, respectively ranking 7th and 14th among foreign investorsin Long An.
They are also two important destinations oflocal exporters which shipped 316.34 million USD worth of goods to Singaporeand another 95.7 million USD to Malaysia in 2018, he noted.
At the workshop, held by the Asia-Africa MarketDepartment and the Long An Department of Industry and Trade, participantsfocused on the CPTPP’s benefits that Vietnamese enterprises can capitalise onto boost exports to Singapore and Malaysia. They also looked into trade andinvestment ties, along with prospects of cooperation in the fields betweenVietnam and the two countries.
The CPTPP – one of the largest trade deals inthe world – covers a combined GDP of more than 13.8 trillion USD and a marketof 500 million people. It gathers 11 countries, namely Australia, Brunei,Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore andVietnam.
The deal officially took effect in December 2018in Mexico, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada and Australia – the first sixcountries to ratify the pact. It came into force in Vietnam on January 14 thisyear.-VNA