Assessing that Vietnam plays an important role in the Indo-Pacific strategy, recently, the Canada-ASEAN Business Council (CABC) called on Canada to prioritize its relationship with Vietnam, taking advantage of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) of which the two countries are members.
Many Canadian businesses care for investment in Vietnam’s agricultural sector. (Photo: baodautu.vn)
Since 2015, Vietnam has been Canada's largest trading partner in Southeast Asia. In 2020, the bilateral trade exchange reached a record of USD11.2 billion. The CPTPP has created favorable conditions for exporters and investors of the two countries to increase market access to each other and to receive tax cuts in a regulatory trade environment. When the CPTPP came into effect, two-way trade increased 12% compared to 2019 and increased 37% compared to 2018.
With an estimated population of 120 million in 2050 and forecast of strong GDP growth in 2021, Vietnam is a market with great potential for Canadian companies, especially those operating in key industries such as food processing.
Besides goods exchange, Vietnam - Canada also have many cooperation opportunities in other fields such as investment, financial services, infrastructure development, supply chain diversification, technology development and human resources.
According to CABC, Canada and Vietnam's commitments to multilateral trade through the CPTPP and new opportunities such as the possibility of a free trade agreement between Canada and ASEAN are positioning Vietnam as an important partner of Canada in the coming decades.
In addition, political stability and policy succession in Vietnam have strengthened the confidence of the private sector at home and abroad, especially in the context that Vietnam maintained economic growth in 2020 despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CABC is the voice of the Canadian private sector operating in ASEAN. Many CABC members, including leading Canadian companies, have had a long presence in Vietnam.
With the two countries' growing relationship through multilateral trade within the CPTPP and possibly a free trade agreement between Canada and ASEAN, Vietnam is becoming an important partner in the new decade.
In a recent statement, Mr. John FG Hannaford, Canada's Deputy Minister of International Trade, emphasized that Vietnam's maintenance of an open supply chain for essential goods and services has supported the uninterrupted flow of trade between Southeast Asia and Canada. He affirmed that Canada is committed to strengthening trade relations with Vietnam on the basis of the extremely solid foundation built by the two sides.
The latest statistics show that the Vietnamese market is increasingly attracting the attention of Canadian exporters and investors. In particular, Canada wants to see a larger investment flow from Vietnam, in the context that Canada is holding many advantages such as a stable political-economic environment, well-trained human resources and preferential tax policy.
Therefore, CABC urges leaders of the two sides to prioritize this relationship by increasing support for small and medium enterprises to take advantage of the CPTPP, while expanding bilateral trade cooperation in high-growth areas such as agricultural products, aerospace, infrastructure, financial services and digital economy. In addition, CABC expressed its support in negotiating the Canada-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement to increase overall opportunities for Canada in Southeast Asia./.
Compiled by BTA