Plenty of Room for Stronger Vietnam- India Trade and Investment Relations

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry, hosted India - Vietnam Virtual Business Meeting on March 24. VCCI Deputy General Secretary Bui Trung Nghia attended and addressed the event.

In order to reduce the impact of the pandemic on the economy and people's lives, over the year 2020, Vietnam successfully pursued a "dual goal" strategy of strictly and thoroughly preventing the pandemic, and maintaining maximum economic activities along with continued institutional and structural reforms to keep stable growth and be prepared for full recovery as soon as the pandemic is under control.

We appreciate the importance of three key potential areas including automobile & spare parts manufacturing, electronics & IT, pharmacy & healthcare which are contributing significantly to the India and Vietnam relationship and bilateral trading volume, Mr. Nghia said

Vietnam’s automotive manufacturing industry has been growing rapidly, but the development of supporting industries is lagging behind, which is an opportunity for Indian auto components manufacturers, who are already amongst the top exporters in the world. Vietnam Government is making the best effort to create favorable conditions for domestic and foreign enterprises to have technology transfer projects and encourage the transfer of advanced technologies to Vietnam, especially in the automobile industry. In terms of this industry, we also encourage domestic and foreign companies to establish quality management and environmental protection procedures according to international standards, Mr. Nghia added.

Regarding information technology, the Government of Vietnam has approved the National Digital Transformation Program to 2025, with a vision to 2030. Vietnam aims to increase the digital economy's contribution to GDP by 20% by the year 2025 and 30% by 2030, and bring Vietnam into the top 3 ASEAN countries in terms of digital government by 2030. Vietnam also plans to launch 5G Mobile Network in the near future.

Vietnam and India hold great potential and advantages to boost cooperation and investment in pharmacy and healthcare. India is now Vietnam’s third-largest pharmaceutical supplier, following only France and Germany. Medicine demand in Vietnam has been on the rise in recent years, he said, adding that each Vietnamese spends around US$64 on pharmaceuticals annually and the Vietnamese market size has exceeded US$6.5 billion. Vietnam is also calling for investment in developing domestic production of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, so there is a large room for the two countries to step up cooperation and investment in the field.

Vietnam - India trade and investment ties have been thriving in recent years with India ranking among Vietnam’s top 10 biggest trade partners while Vietnam is a key market in India’s Act East Policy. Through today event, I hope that the speakers of the Government, promotion organizations, associations and businesses of the two countries will come up with many ideas and solutions for market development, effective and efficient formation of sustainable value chains to overcome current difficulties, striving to bring trade and investment relations between the two countries to a new level, Mr. Nghia concluded.

Source: Vietnam Business Forum