The State visit of General Secretary andPresident To Lam and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, to Ireland is expected to open a new door to cooperation in bilateral trade relations.
After 28 years of officially establishing diplomatic relations, the cooperative and friendly relationship between Vietnam and Ireland has achieved remarkable and specific achievements, in line with the common interests of the Governments and peoples of the two countries.
Trade cooperation has been one of the main pillars in the bilateral relationship, based on the effective implementation of the Vietnam-European Union Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the upcoming Investment Protection Agreement between the European Union and Vietnam (EVIPA) after being ratified by Ireland and the remaining members of the European Union (EU).
Therefore, the State visit of General Secretary and President To Lam and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, to Ireland is expected to open a new door for cooperation in bilateral trade relations.
Maintain growth
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said Ireland is a major trading partner of Vietnam in the EU market, with total import-export turnover between the two countries in 2023 reaching nearly 3.5 billion USD, ranking 6th among EU countries.
As of the end of July 2024, Ireland had 41 investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 60.82 million USD, ranking 55th out of 146 countries and territories with investment projects in Vietnam.
Notably, since the EVFTA took effect, exports to Ireland in 2022 reached 502 million USD, an increase of 45.9% compared to 2021. After a period of impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Irish economy faced some difficulties similar to many countries in the EU region, as well as weakened consumer demand.
This is the main reason why Ireland's import turnover of goods from other countries, including Vietnam, in 2023 decreased significantly compared to the previous year.
However, since the beginning of 2024, with many positive signals from the market, especially the recovery of demand, the import and export situation between Vietnam and Ireland has grown positively; in which, Vietnam's 8-month export to this market reached 669 million USD, an increase of 123.5% over the same period in 2023.
In the opposite direction, imports from Ireland reached 2.45 billion USD, up 29.8%; two-way import-export turnover reached 3.12 billion USD, up 42.6%, higher than the average import-export growth of Vietnam with the EU in the first 8 months of 2024 (15.8%).
According to trade experts, in bilateral trade relations with Vietnam, it is worth noting that Vietnam always maintains a very large trade deficit with the Irish market (in 2023, Vietnam had a trade deficit of more than 2.7 billion USD).
Although the trade deficit has tended to decrease in recent years, since the beginning of the year, Vietnam has continued to increase its trade deficit from this market and Ireland is currently still Vietnam's largest trade deficit market in the European region. In the structure of imported goods, the group of computers, electronic products and components regularly accounts for over 90% of total import turnover.
As a country with a very open legal framework and incentives for the development of high-tech industries, innovation, startups, etc., Ireland is a country where global technology companies have their headquarters or registered their businesses.
The large import deficit of computers, electronic products and components, including semiconductor chips from Ireland, mostly serves domestic production and assembly lines.
According to experts, the potential for cooperation between Vietnam and Ireland is huge. However, cooperation in trade, investment, science and technology, and other areas of strength is still modest, not commensurate with the political relationship as well as the potential and advantages of each country. Accordingly, in the coming time, the two sides need to further strengthen the exchange of delegations at all levels, sectors, and enterprises, and increase information sharing to better exploit the potential and advantages of each country to further promote bilateral cooperation.
Development cooperation
During the recent Irish Government trade mission to Vietnam, Minister of State for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon said that Ireland has supplied agricultural and food products to many markets around the world and is focusing on high-quality products and services in the beverage and food sector. Ireland hopes to bring more choices to Vietnamese consumers.
Ireland has a great advantage in terms of geographical location, with very clean water, so the seafood products are very clean and of high quality. Some typical, high quality seafood products of Ireland include crab, salmon and the desire to provide complementary seafood products and high-end products to Vietnam.
Over the years, Ireland has focused on many activities and developed development cooperation programs with Vietnam. Recently, Ireland has promoted support activities in the agricultural and food sectors to improve productivity, quality and standards so that Vietnam can access new markets.
In the dairy sector alone, Ireland has invested heavily in research, innovation, creativity, and technology development to ensure that dairy products can meet the nutritional needs of infants and the elderly as well as other milk-related needs. Such increased export activities will contribute to increasing the trade balance between Vietnam and Ireland, bringing benefits to both countries.
According to experts, in the coming time, Ireland will continue to promote investment projects in Vietnam, especially in areas where Ireland has strengths and Vietnam has great potential. Specifically, green technology, renewable energy, research and development, innovation, agriculture, high technology, and attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).
Along with that is the application of the global minimum tax of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as well as key areas of cooperation at the National Innovation Center of Vietnam.
To further promote cooperation areas, especially potential areas, the two sides need to increase the exchange of delegations, especially high-level delegations; actively make good use of existing cooperation frameworks both bilaterally and multilaterally (as members of the EU, ASEAN and other international organizations); cooperate to resolve a number of outstanding issues such as Ireland's ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and lobby the EU to remove the IUU "yellow card" on fishing activities.
In order to promote cooperation between Vietnam and Ireland in the coming time, the representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the two countries need to continue to promote connection activities and support the business communities of the two countries to seek cooperation, investment and business opportunities in each other's markets. In addition, make the most of the opportunities that EVFTA brings in the context of economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In particular, it is necessary to promote the ratification process of the Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and urge the EC to remove the yellow card on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing for Vietnamese seafood.
At the same time, encourage Irish businesses, including global companies headquartered in Ireland, to shift and expand their investment in Vietnam.
The representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade also noted that the two sides need to increase exchanges at all levels. Ireland supports the Ministry of Industry and Trade in organizing trade promotion programs, Vietnamese goods weeks at supermarket chains in Ireland and coordinates to bring Vietnamese goods into Irish distribution chains, thereby gradually balancing the trade deficit between the two countries.
In addition, Vietnam and Ireland need to focus on further strengthening cooperation in industrial fields (Industry 4.0, manufacturing and automation industry, electronics and digital technology industry, application of new materials in industrial production, semiconductor industry, application of biotechnology in industry, environmental industry).
In addition, there is energy (green energy development, energy efficiency, etc.), sustainable consumption, innovation, training and development of high-quality human resources.
In particular, the two countries need to continue to closely coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations, within the framework of ASEM and ASEAN-EU cooperation, thereby joining hands to promote multilateralism and international law, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world./.
Source: https://baolangson.vn/mo-canh-cua-moi-cho-hop-tac-thuong-mai-viet-nam-ireland-5023520.html
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