This information was be heard at a seminar to discuss measures to promote trade and investment with the Middle Eastern and African economies which was held in Hanoi on August 18. The seminar attracted participation of numerous local businessmen and government officials.
According to Deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of Africa, Western and South Asia Markets Ngo Khai Hoan, covering over 36 million square kilometers with a total population of nearly 1.5 billion, Middle East and African countries have huge demand for food, farm produce, seafood, milk and consumer products. Middle East nations also have a high demand for construction materials, electricity lines and cables, home decoration and office equipment which are all strengths of Vietnam. This as an excellent opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to boost exports, Mr.Ngo Khai Hoan said.
Deputy Head of the Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) Ta Hoang Linh said that Vietnam has established relations with 70 countries in the Middle East and Africa region so far, with two-way trade increased eight times from 2 billion USD over the past 10 years.
Vietnam mainly exports farm produce such as rice, coffee and pepper along with high added-value industrial products like electronics, machinery and equipment spare parts. Vietnam earned around 37.5 million USD from selling mobile phones and spare parts to the market in 2009, which went up to 6.28 billion USD in 2015.
Despite exports from the domestic sector of Vietnam to the Middle Eastern and African economies have seen some improvement over recent years, it still lags far behind its full potential, Mr.Ta Hoang Linh assessed.
He said Vietnam products face challenges to gain a foothold becauses the competition from China, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia in the markets is stiff and they are undercutting Vietnamese prices.
Mr. Ta Hoang Linh said Vietnam and Middle East and African countries can strengthen early cooperative ties, and they attach much importance to cementing and enhancing traditional friendships.
Another Deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of Africa, Western and South Asia Markets Mr. Le Thai Hoa advised Vietnam’s enterprises to review their development strategies to improve competitiveness and develop distribution channels while actively carrying out trade promotion activities such as surveying the market, joining trade fairs and exhibitions, and optimising opportunities from the free trade agreements.
He also suggested learning carefully about the culture of the Middle East and African countries to design suitable products and enhance connectivity to become highly competitive in the international market.
Meanwhile, Director of the Vietnam Institute for Businessmen Nguyen Lien Phuong encouraged the firms to pay attention to supervising the quality of their products and registering their trademarks not only in domestic markets but also international ones. Once local firms drew up long-term strategies which included developing export products and protecting their trademarks beside their close co-operation with relevant authorities, they could effectively tap into the African and Middle Eastern markets, he added.
