Vietnamese envoy predicts $1 billion in trade with Pakistan

Nguyen Tien Phong, the Vietnamese ambassador to Pakistan, expressed optimism on Thursday that yearly trade between the two countries will likely surpass $1 billion by the end of 2023.

According to him, the $800 million in annual trade between Pakistan and Vietnam may be easily boosted to $1 billion by the end of the next year.

Speaking during a roundtable on “Vietnam-Pakistan economic and trade ties to realize future prospects” organized by the Center of Pakistan and International Relations, the envoy made this statement (COPAIR). The envoy claimed that the textile, leather, surgical, fabric, and tourist industries see substantial economic and commercial interaction between the two nations.

He claimed that while Pakistan’s exports to Vietnam in this sector are extremely little, Vietnam imports fabrics worth billions of dollars.

Similarly, Vietnam imports $479 million worth of surgical equipment, but Pakistan’s involvement is minimal. According to Phong, there are numerous potentials for trade cooperation between Pakistan and Vietnam in the tourism sector.

He claimed that Vietnam was importing a variety of goods, such as cotton yarn, medications, surgical instruments, leather goods, fabrics, chemicals, meat and mutton products, pet food, and fertilizers, and that Pakistan should increase exports of these goods to Vietnam in order to boost the two countries’ combined trade to over $1 billion.

He continued by saying that Vietnam has a strong market for talent in the software and IT industries, and Pakistan may enhance the export of its IT personnel to Vietnam.