Canada - Vietnam: Economic and trade cooperation continues to have great potential

  Since the establishment of the Comprehensive Partnership, the Vietnam-Canada relationship has been deepened in many areas. In political and diplomatic relations, Vietnam and Canada have demonstrated their friendly relationship in the spirit of cooperation through visits from high-ranking leaders of both countries.

The Comprehensive Partnership between Vietnam and Canada is a solid foundation for the development of economic relations between the two countries. Since the establishment of the Comprehensive Partnership in 2017, the value of import and export turnover between the two countries has grown strongly.

According to the General Statistics Office, in 2018, the import-export turnover between the two countries reached 3.86 billion USD, an increase of 10.31% compared to 2017. In 2019, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) (of which Vietnam and Canada are 2 of 11 members) took effect in Vietnam, pushing trade between the two countries to a new height with a growth rate of 22.53%, reaching 4.74 billion USD.

Canadian Governor General David Johnston visits a Canadian-supported project to develop crops and livestock in Soc Trang (2011). Photo: VNA

In 2020, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted the global supply chain, trade growth between the two countries slowed down, but still achieved an increase of 7.27%, with a trade value of 5.08 billion USD. In 2021, it reached 6.02 billion USD, an increase of 19% compared to 2020. In 2022, it reached 7.03 billion USD and in the first 7 months of 2023, it reached 3.6 billion USD.

Vietnam's main exports to Canada include textiles, footwear, seafood, computers, vehicles and spare parts; Vietnam's main imports from Canada include wheat, soybeans, fertilizers, animal feed and raw materials, machinery, equipment, tools and other spare parts.

According to experts, there is still a lot of room for Vietnamese goods to access the Canadian market. The Canadian government pursues a market diversification strategy and considers Vietnam an important partner in the Asian region. This is a great opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to access this market. In January 2022, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the Vietnam-Canada Joint Economic Committee.

In addition, investment activities have also achieved remarkable results. As of July 2023, Canada has directly invested in 253 projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 4.84 billion USD.

The two sides signed documents including a Letter of Intent for cooperation between the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam and the Quebec Science Foundation; a Memorandum of Understanding on a Technical Support Package for Airport Management Research between the Vietnam Airports Corporation and the National Bank of Canada...

In addition, Canada affirmed to maintain official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam, the total value of Canadian ODA for Vietnam since 1990 is about 2 billion Canadian dollars (CAD). Canada also provided 15.2 million CAD for 2 Food Safety Projects - SAFEGRO for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Education and training cooperation between the two countries was also promoted through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on promoting educational cooperation opportunities and bilateral exchanges between the Ministry of Education and Training and the Government of British Columbia in November 2021.

Education and training is a key area of ​​bilateral relations and Canada has always identified Vietnam as a priority market for educational cooperation. There are currently about 21,000 Vietnamese students studying in Canada.

Cooperation between localities of the two countries is also always promoted. Currently, there are pairs of localities connecting and cooperating with each other such as Ha Tinh-Langley (British Columbia province), Ho Chi Minh City-Toronto (Ontario province), Da Nang-Vancouver...

Ms. Phan Thi Thang, Vice Chairwoman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, received Mr. Jeremy Harirson, Minister of Trade and Export of the Saskatchewan Provincial Government of the Prairie Region (Canada) in 2022. Photo: VNA

Canada has implemented a number of official development assistance (ODA) projects in a number of localities, such as the small and medium enterprise development project for Soc Trang and Tra Vinh provinces; the vocational training project for workers in Hau Giang and Vinh Long provinces, etc.

The Vietnamese community in Canada currently has about 250,000 people, making important contributions to the socio-economic development and enriching the culture of the beautiful country of Canada. The quintessence of Vietnamese cuisine has also become very familiar in the daily lives of many Canadians.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the two countries agreed to continue promoting cooperation, especially in the fields of economics, trade, investment, security, defense, development support, climate change response, marine environment protection, clean and renewable energy, digital economy, innovation, green growth, building green and sustainable agriculture, and training high-quality human resources.

Looking back over the past 50 years, it can be seen that despite the complex changes in the world and the region, the Vietnam-Canada Comprehensive Partnership has continued to develop steadily, becoming increasingly substantive and effective. The potential and room to further promote the Comprehensive Partnership between the two countries is still enormous.

With the long history of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, and the affection that generations of leaders and people of the two countries have for each other, the relationship between the two countries will certainly go further in the future./.

Cong Dao