Viet Nam and Canada should utilise the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), to which both are signatories, and other free trade agreements (FTAs) to better facilitate bilateral trade and investment ties, Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada Pham Cao Phong has said.

At the “Developing the Vietnam-Canada Business Partnership” webinar (Photo: VNA)

Despite the serious impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Viet Nam-Canada relations continued to flourish in 2020, with two-way trade enjoying a year-on-year rise of 11.2 percent, Phong told the “Developing the Viet Nam-Canada Business Partnership” webinar held jointly by the Vietnamese Embassy, the Government of Quebec, and the ASEAN-Canada Business Council on January 20.

He added that the pandemic is also a chance for the two countries to seek more innovative and effective measures to foster bilateral relations.

John F.G Hannaford, Deputy Minister of International Trade at Global Affairs Canada, said he admires Viet Nam’s effective response to COVID-19 and affirmed the important role of international cooperation amid the pandemic.

Viet Nam’s maintenance of an open supply chain for essential goods and services has supported uninterrupted trade flows between Canada and Southeast Asia, he said, stressing that Canada commits to intensifying its trade ties with Viet Nam.

Canada sees big opportunities for cooperation in the fields of food processing, agriculture, education, information and communications technology, and infrastructure in Viet Nam, and hopes to attract more investment from the country, he added.

Speaking at the webinar, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said that Viet Nam can be viewed as a “centre of FTAs”, with several major and important agreements signed recently, such as the CPTPP (representing 13 percent of global GDP), the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (16 percent of global GDP), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) (32 percent of global GDP).

The country hopes to be a reliable destination and bridge connecting Canada and ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific, Hai said.

As of November 2020, Canada was 14th among countries and territories investing in Viet Nam, with 212 projects worth over 5.05 billion USD.

Source: VNA