ASEAN, Brazil eye stronger trade and investment links
Vietnamese Ambassador to Brazil Pham Thi Kim Hoa has attended a virtual meeting between the ASEAN Committee in Brasilia (ACB) and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) which discussed opportunities for trade and investment and ways to develop economic relations between ASEAN member states and the Latin American country.
Brazil is Vietnam’s biggest partner in Latin America. Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese Ambassador to Brazil Pham Thi Kim Hoa has attended avirtual meeting between the ASEAN Committee in Brasilia (ACB) and the BrazilianTrade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) which discussedopportunities for trade and investment and ways to develop economic relationsbetween ASEAN member states and the Latin American country.
Themeeting brought together ambassadors of ASEAN member states and Apex-BrasilChairman Sergio Segovia.
Speakingat the event, Segovia highlighted ASEAN as Brazil’s third largest groupingpartner and congratulated the bloc on the signing of the Regional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership (RCEP) last month.
Helater introduced about Apex-Brasil and solutions it is adopting to promotetrade and investment in Brazil at the time of COVID-19.
In2020, the Apex-Brasil organised a number of virtual business-matching eventsand webinars on food, beverages and information technology with enterprisesfrom Southeast Asia, Segovia said, adding that the agency has also released marketresearch reports, including one for Vietnam focusing on foods and drinksindustries following the visit of an Apex-Brasil delegation to the country inlate 2019.
Thesereports have provided Brazilian firms with useful and updated information aboutthe Vietnamese market, he noted.
Nextyear, the agency plans to take part in virtual trade fairs, webinars androadshows among others to gain broader access to ASEAN markets for Braziliancompanies. It also shows strong interest in the FoodExpo held annually inVietnam which it plans to participate in next year.
In2019, the Vietnam-Brazil trade reached nearly 5 billion USD, making VietnamBrazil’s largest trade partner in ASEAN while Brazil is also Vietnam’s biggestpartner in Latin America.
AmbassadorPham Thi Kim Hoa, for her part, briefed about Vietnam’s incentives for foreigninvestment and called on Brazilian firms to invest in Vietnam’s areas ofpriority, such as logistics, pharmaceuticals, IT, textile and garment,agriculture and biofuel.
Shealso proposed the Apex-Brasil sign an agreement with the Vietnam TradePromotion Agency to further boost trade between the two countries./.
After 31 years of establishing ties, the relationships between Vietnam and Brazil have flourished in all spheres, especially when the two countries declared a comprehensive partnership in May 2007.
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Brazil is Vietnam’s biggest partner in Latin America. Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA) 
