Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien (R) and Ambassador of Chile to Vietnam Sergio Narea (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam highly values Chile’s role andalways considers Chile one of its top important partners in the region,Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien told Ambassador of Chile toVietnam Sergio Narea during a reception in Hanoi on July 6.

To further push forward bilateral trade,Dien underlined the importance of effectively maintaining the Vietnam-Chile Free Trade Commission mechanism to review the progress of the implementation of the Vietnam-Chile FTA and seek measures to address obstacles inbilateral economic, trade and investment relations.

He suggested that the next meeting of the commission should focus discussion onissues such as cooperation towards rapid economic recovery and sustainabledevelopment, and jointly shaping new global production and supply chains that areresilient to future crises.

The minister also called attention to the possibility of expandingcooperation in foundational industries such as materials and support industries,manufacturing, chemicals and renewable energy; as well as in breakthroughsectors that are in line with international trends, such as green technology,the use of new energy, digital economy with high technology content, ande-commerce.

Regardingtrade promotion activities, Dien proposed increasing the exchangeof business delegations to share market information and encouraging each other's firms tojoin in their trade fairs and exhibitions.

On the occasion, he asked theChilean side to send a business delegation to the Vietnam International Sourcing 2023slated for September 13-15, adding that the Vietnamese Ministryof Industry and Trade (MIT) will also organise a delegation of around 18companies from the national key trade promotion programme to make a visit to Chile.

Minister Dien wished to receive support from the ChileanEmbassy in Vietnam and relevant Chilean agencies for the organisation of a Vietnam-ChileBusiness Forum within the framework of the visit.

Ambassador Narea, for his part,affirmed that Chile always values and wishes to bolster cooperation withVietnam in various fields, especially in the economy, trade and investment.

Hepromised to work closely with the MIT and relevant Vietnamese agencies topromote exchanges on issues raised by Vietnam, particularly in successfully holdingthe fifth meeting of the Vietnam-Chile Free Trade Commission.

Chile wants to strengthen bilateral trade ties in the near future, with the goal of lifting two-way trade, he said.

Last year, two-way trade between Viജetnamand Chile hit 2.15 billion USD, up 9% annually. Inꦦ the first five months ofthis year, the figure reached 697.5 million USD, down 25.1% year-on-year. Chileis now one of the four biggest trade partners of Vietnam in Latin America,behind Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, according to the MIT./.