H.E. Nguyen Tien Phong, Ambassador of Vietnam to Pakistan said that Vietnam’s turnover in the first 10 months of 2022 was US$ 675 billion with imports of US$ 333 billion and exports US$ 342 billion, therefore, Pakistan has great scope to enhance its trade and exports with Vietnam. He said that Vietnam is importing many products including cotton & yarn, medicines, surgical instruments, leather products, fabrics, chemicals, meat & mutton products, pet food, fertilizers and Pakistan should enhance exports of these products to Vietnam to take the bilateral trade to over US$ 1 billion. He said that Pakistan has a talented workforce in IT and software field and Vietnam has good demand for these professionals, so Pakistan can increase the export of its IT manpower to Vietnam. He said this while addressing the business community during his visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Vietnam Ambassador said that ICCI should form a delegation for Vietnam and he would fully support in making its visit successful. He said that exchange of trade delegations is important to explore new avenues of mutual cooperation. He termed consistency, continuity and stability as key requirements for Pakistan to attract foreign investment from Vietnam, ASEAN and other countries. He appreciated the ICCI plan for organizing Pak-ASEAN Forum and assured that he would fully support it.

Speaking at the occasion, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan and Vietnam are enjoying cordial relations, but their bilateral trade was just around US$ 700 million in 2021, which was far below their actual potential. He said that the main reason of low trade is the lack of awareness about business opportunities between the enterprises of both countries. He stressed for promoting strong business linkages between the private sectors of both countries in order to explore all untapped areas of mutual cooperation in order to make significant growth in trade volume.

ICCI President said that Pakistan and Vietnam can cooperate in many sectors including IT & software, agriculture, education, energy and culture. He said that both countries have been discussing a Preferential Trade Agreement, which should be finalized to boost bilateral trade. He said that Vietnam is an important member of ASEAN block and close cooperation of Pakistan with it can provide us easy access to the big ASEAN market. He stressed that the investors of Vietnam should explore business opportunities in CPEC and in other sectors of Pakistan’s economy. He said that Vietnam should consider investing in smartphone and computer chips, parts and accessories in Pakistan as Vietnam is one of the most advanced and large-scale producers of these products.

Faad Waheed Senior Vice President ICCI, Khalid Iqbal Malik Group Leader, Zafar Bakhtawari, Zahid Maqbool, Mian Shaukat Masud and others also shared useful ideas for improving bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Vietnam.