Vietnamese firms seeking investment in Pakistan’s seafood, agriculture sectors

Ambassador of Vietnam to Pakistan, Nguyen Xuan Luu, on Saturday said many Vietnamese firms were keen to invest and provide their expertise in various economic sectors of Pakistan, especially in agriculture and seafood with focus on Karachi.

This he said while talking to President Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce of Industry (FPCCI) Abdul Rauf Alam. Both countries were enjoying excellent relations, but bilateral trade and investment was much lower than the actual potential for which government and private sector must play their role, he added. He acknowledged the role of the FPCCI in promoting trade and industry and said Pakistan was a huge consumers market and Vietnam’s business community could benefit from this opportunity. The ambassador said Vietnam also could import different items mainly textile, leather and other products for which liberal visa policy, exchange of information, interaction and exchange of delegations was imperative.

Speaking on the occasion, the FPCCI president said Pakistan and Vietnam had signed a trade promotion agreement in the third meeting of Joint Trade Commission (JTC) held in August 2015, but it had not helped a lot. The next session of Joint Trade Commission scheduled in Islamabad shortly should come up with meaningful ways and means to boost trade after reviewing scope of trade and identifying, he added. Abdul Rauf Alam said Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) should improve their efforts in this regard. He said many Vietnamese products were coming to Pakistan via Dubai which showed there were certain impediments which should be tackled. He said both countries could cooperate in the fields of engineering, information technology, food processing, textile products, garments, pharmaceuticals, security and military equipment. Pakistan could get easy access to the market of Southeast Asian nations by promoting better relations with Vietnam and help Hanoi to access South and Central Asian markets, he added.

Tuan Minh

Dailytime