At the event (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – A seminar onVietnam – India trade in farm produce and food processing was held in Hanoi onDecember 17.
The online event was co-hosted by the Vietnam Chamberof Commerce and Industry, the Indian Embassy in Vietnam and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export DevelopmentAuthority (APEDA).
Speaking at the event, deputy head of the VCCI’sDepartment of International Relations Truong Thi Bich Ngoc spoke highly of theIndian Embassy and APEDA’s initiative to hold the event, saying that it willopen up trade opportunities for Vietnamese firms, especially those working infarm produce.
India is now one of the 10 biggest tradepartners of Vietnam with a two-way trade of over 10 billion USD last year. Bothcountries are striving to achieve 15 billion USD at the earliest. Farm produceis the most important goods in two-way trade.
Vietnam could export fresh fruits, processedfood, cashew nuts, tea, pepper and spices to India, a market with a populationof nearly 1.4 billion people, she said.
She added that Vietnam lies in a strategiclocation in the centre of Southeast Asia with a long coastline, proximity tointernational transport routes and young workforce at competitive cost. Vietnamhas reached 14 free trade agreements with over 50 countries and territories,including new-generation deals.
Ta Quang Kien, head of the farm produce policyoffice under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Agro Processing and Market Development Authority, said in 11 months of thisyear, Vietnam’s farm produce trade with India reached nearly 1.7 billion USD,of which 424 million USD was Vietnam’s exports./.
