30 years of Vietnam-Paraguay relations: Many positive signs in the prospects for cooperation.

During the visit of the Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina and Paraguay, Ngo Minh Nguyet, to Paraguay, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Paraguay, the Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Paraguay, Ms. María Del Carmen Pérez, shared with a VNA reporter about the achievements and prospects for cooperation between the two countries.

Báo Tin Tức•13/12/2025

According to Ms. Pérez, over the past three decades, Vietnam-Paraguay relations have developed steadily and become increasingly substantive, fostered by high-level visits and contacts, as well as increasingly close coordination between relevant agencies of the two countries.

She argued that although Vietnam and Paraguay have different geographical conditions and economic structures, they possess many complementary strengths, creating a favorable foundation for enhanced cooperation in a world facing numerous challenges that require interconnectedness.

Regarding future prospects, Ms. Pérez noted that bilateral economic and trade relations are showing many positive signs. In recent years, two-way trade turnover has maintained an upward trend, reaching approximately 250-300 million USD per year, with key export items including seafood, footwear, electronics, and machinery from Vietnam; while Paraguay's exports to Vietnam mainly consist of beef, soybeans, corn, cotton, and leather.

According to her, this is just the beginning, because businesses in both countries still have much room to expand their presence in each other's markets, especially as Vietnam is increasingly interested in the high-quality agricultural raw material supply chain of the South American region.

Ms. Pérez also noted that many new initiatives for trade and investment cooperation have emerged, including Vietnamese businesses exploring opportunities to expand their presence in Paraguay and the Mercosur bloc; conversely, Paraguayan businesses are increasing their exports to the Vietnamese market. The consul expects both sides to take stronger and more substantive steps to diversify the cooperation structure and increase the scale of trade exchange.

Regarding the proposal by Vietnamese President Luong Cuong during his meeting with Paraguayan President Santiago Peña on the sidelines of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, concerning Paraguay's support for initiating negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), Ms. Peña assessed this as a completely timely initiative and in line with the interests of both sides.

She emphasized that, in the context of Mercosur seeking to strengthen its presence in Asia, Vietnam – a dynamic economy and an important gateway to ASEAN – is an ideal partner for the bloc to promote trade expansion. According to her, Paraguay is a Mercosur member country particularly interested in strengthening relations with Asia and will strongly support the process of promoting a bilateral FTA – a framework expected to reduce trade barriers, facilitate investment, and foster cooperation in new areas such as infrastructure, digital technology , and telecommunications.

The Consul expressed confidence that President Peña would continue to promote this initiative in the future, and affirmed that she and the Honorary Consulate would make every effort to support strategic connectivity activities between the two countries, aiming for a deeper and more effective period of cooperation.

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