Canadian and Vietnamese firms meet at the workshop on seeking for business cooperation opportunities held on October 2 in Montreal, Canada. VNA/VNS Photo Quang Thịnh

OTTAWA – Việt Nam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Việt Nam Association of Supporting Industries (VASI) have been in Canada to explore new business opportunities.

One of the key sectors they are chasing is the supporting industry, which was discussed during a workshop in Montreal on Wednesday.

Nguyễn Hồng Dương, Deputy Director of MoIT’s Europe-America Market Department highlighted advantages from the Canadian market for Việt Nam in development of its supporting industry.

These included increasing attention from Canadian authorities for Việt Nam and CPTPP, a free trade agreement for 11 Asia-Pacific member countries including Việt Nam and Canada.

Vietnam News Agency reported that production and market scales are suitable for the capacity of Vietnamese industry while Canada has advanced technology.

Canada has developed supporting industries for many sectors of the economy.

Dương said the automobile, textile and food processing industries will be sectors that Việt Nam expects to have strong cooperation with Canada in developing the supporting industries.

Việt Nam is a developing market and of great importance to Canadian businesses, Daniel Dignard, international trade advisor, Quebec Ministry of Economy and Innovation, said at the workshop.

Over the past 10 years, Việt Nam has been constantly developing and this is an attraction for investors, he said. The Canadian firms see Việt Nam as a good business opportunity.

Việt Nam is also a very competitive destination in terms of market access and the ability to participate in manufacturing activities in the world. The firms are very optimistic about the possibility that this market will grow stronger, he said.

This year, Việt Nam is forecast to maintain its position as Canada's leading trade partner in ASEAN and the fifth largest partner in Asia, after Japan, mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan.

Trương Thị Chí Bình, VASI’s Vice Chairwoman, said over the past 12 months, there has been a trend of many Canadian enterprises coming to Việt Nam to find suppliers.

Production of spare parts (that Canada needs) is probably suitable for ability of Vietnamese enterprises, she said. However, Việt Nam has only about 300 enterprises that can produce quality parts and accessories to participate in the global value chain.

This workshop was expected to create favourable conditions for Canadian and Vietnamese businesses to meet and seek opportunities on expanding markets and improving production ability.

Việt Nam is assessed by experts to have many good conditions on development of supporting industries. With an increasingly improved business environment, Việt Nam becomes an attractive destination for many businesses in the industrial sector.

The comprehensive partnership between Việt Nam and Canada under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) opens more opportunities on extensive cooperation for businesses of the two countries.

In the first seven months of this year, Việt Nam's export turnover to the Canadian market increased by 32.7 per cent year on year to US$2.2 billion.  VNS