Vietnam, Chile eye free trade agreement
Vietnam, Chile eye free trade agreement
19/04/2008
VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam and Chile have established a joint mission to study the feasibility of a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).
In an interview with the Vietnam Economic Times, Chilean Foreign Ministry’s Trade Promotion Agency Director Alicia Frohmann said trade between the two countries is expected to further boom after signing the FTA.
Frohmann told the paper that two-way trade surged by 7.4 times from 2002-2007, with 163 million USD recorded last year.
The two countries expect to bring the figure to 1 billion USD within the next five years, Frohmann said.
Vietnam ranks 50th on the list of countries importing Chilean products, representing 0.16 percent of the Latin American country’s total export turnover. Vietnam imports bronze ore, pine wood, cod-liver oil, paper pulp and wine from Chile and exports coffee, sports shoes and garments.
Speaking about the two countries’ cooperation potential, the Chilean official said her country always sees Vietnam as an example of solidarity and economic development.
Vietnam, with a market of 84 million people recording gigantic growth rates, has become an attractive destination for Chile, she said.
As member of ASEAN, APEC and WTO, Vietnam is able to help Chile come closer to other members of these organisations and it is a reason Chile selected Vietnam as a basis for seeking new cooperation opportunities, the trade promotion director said.
Chile says it is also interested in other fields of cooperation with Vietnam such as mining and processing industries.
The Chilean Trade Promotion Agency is organising a Chile week in Ho Chi Minh City from April 16-19, which includes a Vietnam-Chile Business Forum where businesses of both countries can meet and discuss cooperation.
(Source: VNA)
