Buenos Aires (VNA) – The Embassy ofVietnam in Argentina and the Argentinean Confederation of MediumEnterprises (CAME) jointly held a business workshop in the country’s capitalcity of Buenos Aires on July 25.

The event saw the participation of 60enterprises from the two nations.

Addressing the opening ceremony, CAME PresidentFabian Tarrio highlighted Vietnam’s potential and room for trade exchangesbetween the two nations, expressing his hope that CAME will become a bridge toconnect the two sides’ enterprises, contributing to raising their bilateraltrade value.

For his part, Vietnamese Ambassador Dang XuanDung underlined the remarkable growth rate of 20 percent on average during2012-2016 of the economic–trade relations between Vietnam and Argentina sincethe Vietnam – Argentina comprehensive partnership was established in 2010.

He noted that Argentina is one of the mostimportant partners of Vietnam in Latin America.

According to the Ambassador, the 45thanniversary of the diplomatic ties in 2018 will be an important milestone inthe long-term comprehensive cooperation between the two nations.

He suggested the two sides play a more activerole in the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the SouthAmerica’s Trade Bloc MERCOSUR, in order to help each other enter the market inthose two regions.

Tran Duy Dong, Director of theAmerica Market Department under the Ministry of Industryand Trade said Argentina is a potential market for Vietnamese key exports suchas footwear, garment-textile, wood products, and handicraft.

Vice versa, with a population of nearly 100million people and increasing purchasing power, Vietnam is also a promising marketfor Argentinean exporters, Dong said, expressing his hope Argentina willsupport the negotiation on a free trade agreement between Mercosur and Vietnam.

Gustavo Martino from the Argentinean ForeignMinistry lauded the dynamic development of Vietnam, particularly inmanufacturing, and said the two countries’ firms can connect with each other tobring their products to Asian and Latin American nations.

The event witnessed the signing of severalcontracts between the two nations’ enterprises, mostly in wood materials andanimal feed. Argentinean firms expressed their interest in Vietnam’s garment-textileproducts, coffee and electric bulbs.

As part of a trade promotion programme inArgentina from July 23-27, the delegation of Vietnamese firms visited the 2017Argentina Agriculture Fair and the Pilar Industrial Park in Buenos Aires.

Previously, the delegation held several tradepromotion events in Paraguay, with the support of the Commerce Office under theEmbassy of Vietnam in Buenos Aires.-VNA