Saba Javed

The annual trade volume between Pakistan and Vietnam has the potential to reach $1 billion by the end of 2023, said the Vietnamese ambassador. Ambassador Nguyen Tien Phong was expressing his views at a roundtable on "Vietnam-Pakistan economic and trade ties to realise prospects" hosted by the Centre of Pakistan and International Relations (COPAIR), Islamabad. He said that the current annual trade volume between Pakistan and Vietnam is $800 million, which can be easily increased to $1 billion by the end of next year by boosting trade in more potential sectors.

The Vietnamese ambassador said the two countries had extensive economic and commercial cooperation in textile, leather, surgical, fabric, and tourism sectors. He said that Vietnam was importing many products including cotton yarn, medicines, surgical instruments, leather products, fabrics, chemicals, meat and mutton products, pet food, and fertiliser, and Pakistan should enhance exports of these products to Vietnam to take the bilateral trade to over $1 billion.

He said Pakistan has a talented workforce in the IT and software fields and Vietnam has good demand for these professionals, so Pakistan can increase the export of its IT manpower to Vietnam. The ambassador said diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Pakistan resumed in 1972 when both countries were suffering from a crisis, and during that time, the countries enhanced the relations by promoting mutual trust. He said the two countries have supported each other at international forums during that time, and strong diplomatic, economic, and trade relations have progressed further.

Ambassador Nguyen said Pakistan has a large population whose influence was extended not only to South Asia, but also to the Pacific. He said there is a framework for promoting mutual economic and trade relations between Pakistan and Vietnam. The ambassador was of the view that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), in which ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) plays an important role, has a huge potential for ASEAN and Pakistan's economic, trade, and investment to reach a new high level with shift in paradigm from geo-politics to geo-economics in Pakistan.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk