Bringing Vietnam two-way trade turnover

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked Vietnamese and Brazilian businesses to actively participate and concretize cooperation mechanisms into specific programs and projects, striving to bring two-way trade turnover to 10 billion USD by 2025.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh talks with Brazilian businesses. Photo: VNA.

During his official visit to the Federal Republic of Brazil, on the morning of September 24, in Sao Paulo city, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held a dialogue with Brazilian businesses to discuss investment cooperation opportunities, business connections and jointly create new values, new growth drivers to promote and enhance the Vietnam - Brazil economic cooperation relationship, both in quality and depth in the coming time.

Introducing the country and people of Vietnam, the investment environment in Vietnam and the relationship between the two countries, the Prime Minister said that although they are half a world apart, the people of Vietnam and Brazil have many similarities, such as sincerity, openness, hospitality and sharing. "Vietnamese people know Brazil as a country of football, Brazilians are kind-hearted, Brazil is strong and unique," the Prime Minister pointed out.

According to the Prime Minister, after nearly 35 years of establishing diplomatic relations, especially since the establishment of the comprehensive partnership in 2007, the Vietnam-Brazil cooperative relationship has continued to develop positively in all areas. Political relations are increasingly close and trustworthy, while economic and trade relations are increasing. Vietnam and Brazil are currently each other's largest trading partners in Southeast Asia and South America, with trade turnover in 2022 reaching a record of about 6.78 billion USD, up 6.6% compared to 2021 and tripling in the past decade.

However, investment cooperation between the two countries is still very modest. Brazil currently has 6 valid projects with a total registered capital of 3.83 million USD. On the Vietnamese side, there is 1 investment project in Brazil with a total registered investment capital of 0.3 million USD.

In the context of the world economic situation with many uncertain developments, challenges and opportunities intertwined, Vietnam has united, promoted the spirit of "fire tests gold, hardship tests strength", strongly promoted internal strength, harmoniously combined with international integration to successfully achieve the dual goal of both controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and recovering and developing the socio-economy; maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, ensuring major balances of the economy.

To date, the economic scale has reached 409 billion USD; per capita income has increased from 160 USD to over 4,100 USD. In addition, Vietnam has signed 16 new-generation free trade agreements with over 60 countries and territories, including the largest markets in the world, and is increasingly diversifying markets, products, and supply chains. Many leading transnational corporations (TNCs) in the Global Fortune Top 500 are now operating in Vietnam, choosing Vietnam as a strategic production center, connecting with global supply chains. Vietnam is gradually becoming an important link in the global value chain, especially in the fields of electronics, garments, motorbikes, agriculture and aquaculture, etc.

Vietnam’s investment environment continues to be positively evaluated by the international community and investors in terms of growth prospects and business environment. Accordingly, international organizations predict that Vietnam will continue to maintain a growth rate among the highest in the region and the world.

In the coming period, Vietnam will continue to build and perfect a socialist-oriented market economy, a socialist rule-of-law state, and a socialist democracy with the people as the subject, driving force, and goal of development. Vietnam aims to become a developing country with an upper-middle income by 2030 and a developed country with a high income by 2045, in which internal strength is fundamental, strategic, decisive, and long-term; external strength is important and breakthrough.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh with representatives of Brazilian businesses. Photo: VNA.

With the policy of attracting and cooperating with foreign investment selectively, taking quality, efficiency, technology and environmental protection as the main evaluation criteria, Vietnam prioritizes attracting projects in the fields of high technology, innovation, research and development; having spillover, commitment to cooperation, creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the value chain; promoting the digital economy and actively contributing to the sustainable socio-economic development of Vietnam.

The Prime Minister said that the two economies of Vietnam and Brazil have many fields and products that are highly complementary such as energy, aviation, agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare, biology, mining, etc. In particular, Brazil can become a bridge to help Vietnam access the markets of Latin American countries, as well as the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR); at the same time, Vietnam will become a bridge to help Brazil access the large ASEAN market with more than 650 million people and a larger market with 800 million people of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) of which Vietnam is a member, which has been effective since January 2019.

In the coming time, the Prime Minister suggested that the two sides promote in-depth information exchange on each country's investment policies and priority areas of cooperation; coordinate the implementation of cooperation programs in investment and trade promotion in various forms to create conditions for businesses of both sides to better understand the investment environment and opportunities of each country.

The Prime Minister said that the two governments need to encourage and promote two-way investment and trade flows on the basis of mutual benefit; increase the exchange of business delegations to survey markets, investment opportunities and business connections to raise the level of trade and investment relations commensurate with the potential and advantages of the two countries.

The Prime Minister stated that Vietnam wants Brazilian businesses to invest in the fields of manufacturing, high technology, infrastructure development, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, renewable energy, information technology, pharmaceuticals, biology, construction, services, etc., as well as to participate as strategic partners in state-owned enterprises that have been, are being, and will be equitized and divested.

The Prime Minister hopes that Vietnamese and Brazilian businesses will cooperate to build and form value chains, connecting the two countries and the global market. Vietnam is ready to openly discuss issues of interest to businesses. The Vietnamese Government is committed to creating all favorable conditions for Brazilian investors to make successful, sustainable and long-term investments in Vietnam.

At the seminar, large corporations, enterprises and representatives of Brazilian business associations expressed their impressions of Vietnam's development and hospitality; highly appreciated Vietnam's development potential.

Businesses want to cooperate with Vietnam in many fields, especially in agriculture, food processing, renewable energy, and aerospace; they believe that these are areas where Brazilian and Vietnamese businesses can cooperate and complement each other to participate deeply in the global supply chain.

Along with introducing their cooperation potential, Brazilian businesses expressed their desire to learn more about Vietnam's legal regulations in the above-mentioned fields, especially food safety standards and import-export procedures.

In particular, the Embraer aerospace group hopes to receive support from the Government to build an aviation equipment maintenance center, provide components and aircraft maintenance in Vietnam; the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry hopes to establish an office in Vietnam to promote trade and industrial cooperation between the two countries.

Based on the assessment of the results of economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries in recent times; analyzing the potential and opportunities between the two countries and the opinions of the delegates, at the end of the discussion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that Vietnam is currently focusing on three strategic breakthroughs: perfecting the market economic institution, oriented towards socialism; administrative reform, training high-quality human resources, meeting the labor needs of the new period; developing infrastructure, especially transport and telecommunications infrastructure, to help businesses reduce input costs, increase competitiveness; hoping that Brazilian businesses will give advice to Vietnam in this process.

Affirming that Vietnam fully supports Brazil's opening of an office of the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam, the Prime Minister suggested that Brazilian and Vietnamese businesses further promote the transfer of science and technology; strengthen connections to understand, share and cooperate, and develop together. Along with that, with a rich culture and developed high-performance sports, Vietnam and Brazil continue to promote cooperation in the fields of culture, tourism and sports.

The Prime Minister hopes that with the current good political relations, more Brazilian businesses will come to Vietnam to invest, produce and do business in the spirit of win-win, “harmonious benefits, shared risks”. For example, Vietnam and Brazil are the two leading coffee producing and exporting countries in the world, so they should cooperate and support each other to develop together, not compete and eliminate each other.

Appreciating the goodwill of Brazilian businesses to cooperate, the Prime Minister said that Vietnam is actively negotiating with Brazil on free trade agreements, investment protection, double taxation avoidance, etc., creating favorable conditions for businesses to cooperate and develop. Therefore, the Prime Minister suggested that businesses on both sides actively participate and concretize cooperation mechanisms into specific programs and projects, striving to bring two-way trade turnover to 10 billion USD by 2025, reaching 15-20 billion USD by 2030 in a more balanced direction./.

According to the Communist Party of Vietnam

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