Vietrade deputy head Lê Hoàng Tài (second from left) and AWEX CEO Pascale Delcomminette (third from left) at the signing ceremony of a Letter of Intent on collaboration between the two agencies held in Hà Nội on Monday. — VNS Photo Hoàng Hà

HÀ NỘI — Lê Hoàng Tài, deputy head of the Việt Nam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade), and Pascale Delcomminette, CEO of the Wallonia Export & Investment Agency (AWEX), signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for collaboration between the two agencies on Monday in Hà Nội.

The LOI was signed on the occasion of the Wallonia economic and trade delegation coming to Việt Nam to look for business opportunities. The business delegation comprises 21 companies and organisations from the Wallonia region of Belgium in the fields of construction (materials, civil engineering), digital services, food and beverages, medical equipment, industrial equipment and industrial engineering.

The delegation's working programme runs in Hà Nội on Monday and Tuesday, then continues in HCM City from Wednesday until Friday.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Belgium's ambassador to Việt Nam HE Karl Van den Bossche, said this was the sixth time a delegation of Belgium's enterprises came to Việt Nam to seek business opportunities.

He added that the people-to-people contacts should lead to more business opportunities, especially when considering a visa-waiver that already applies to seven European countries.

"The delegation is made up of companies of very different sizes, business sectors and experience in the Vietnamese market. But all the participants are driven by the same common desire to make fruitful contacts during their stay in Việt Nam," said AWEX CEO Delcomminette.

At the signing ceremony, Tài said that Belgium was the sixth largest trading partner of Việt Nam in the European Union, while Việt Nam was the second largest partner of Belgium in the ASEAN bloc. The bilateral trade value reached US$4.73 billion in 2022.

"The visit of more than 20 Belgian businesses this month and a Vietnamese enterprise delegation visiting Belgium in the coming time are important milestones for Việt Nam - Belgium economic cooperation to promote trade activities between Việt Nam and Belgium in general and the Wallonia region in particular," Tài said.

Dimitri Duong, Secretary General of the Belgian Vietnamese Alliance (BVA), a bilateral chamber of commerce, who is accompanying the delegation, also saluted the event and emphasised the role his chamber plays in regularly organising B2B/matchmaking sessions for Vietnamese enterprises in Belgium.

Vietrade under Việt Nam's Ministry of Industry and Trade performs the function of state management of trade promotion and brands, and coordinates with partners to carry out trade promotion and branding activities.

AWEX is the trade and investment promotion organisation of the Wallonia region of Belgium. It has a network of over 100 offices abroad, including one in HCM City. — VNS