Trade promotion with Britain to rise

(20-01-2009)

HA NOI — Trade ties between Viet Nam and Britain received a boost when the Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) pledged to foster co-operation in trade promotion with the British Trade and Investment Agency in the capital yesterday.

The agreement aims to help enhance trade and investment between Viet Nam and Britain. Under the agreement, the two sides will strengthen co-operation and economic and trade policy exchanges that may boost business activities.

Viet Nam and Britain will also organise trade missions for the two nations’ enterprises to seek trade and investment opportunities as well as create the chance for firms to participate at trade fairs in both countries.

The past few years have demonstrated strong growth in the two nations’ trade and investment ties. Two-way trade is estimated to have reached more than 1.1 billion pounds (US$1.64 billion) during 2008, up 16.2 per cent on the year before.

Viet Nam exports agricultural products such as coffee, footwear, garments, wood furniture, seafood, computers and tea and pepper, while importing machinery and equipment, fertiliser, chemicals, electronics and medicines from Britian.

To better tap the British market, trade experts suggested Vietnamese enterprises pay more attention to researching the tastes of British consumers and their consumption trends, in order to better design products for the market.

They also urged domestic firms to negotiate suitable payment methods and focus on packing and shipping methods aimed at minimising costs as well as concentrate on improving product quality improvement systems and diversify designs to make products more competitive.

In terms of investment, Viet Nam is among 16 prioritised countries for British investment. The British Trade and Investment agency said construction, energy, banking and finance, IT, engineering, agriculture and environmental protection are encouraging sectors for investment in the Viet Nam. — VNS