The event attracted a number of enterprises from Eastern Europe and Vietnam to meet and seek co-operation opportunities. It also aimed to help Eastern European enterprises to better understand Vietnamese agricultural products.
According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong, Eastern European countries are considered a traditional and important export market for Vietnamese goods.
Institutions and legal frameworks for developing bilateral cooperation have been established between Vietnam and the Eastern European countries, including 14 intergovernmental committees, a mechanism for economic cooperation consultation between Vietnam and Poland and a Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan), he noted.
However, the total trade revenue between Vietnam and the Eastern European countries still fell short of the bilateral potential for cooperation. In 2018, bilateral trade only reached US$10.1 billion, accounting for 2.65% of Vietnam’s total export revenue, he added.
The Deputy Minister said that, in the future, new free trade agreements with the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union are expected to eliminate trade barriers, as well as promote trade, industry and investment cooperation between Vietnam and European countries in general and Eastern Europe in particular.
In particular, items such as seafood, fresh and processed fruit and vegetables, electronics and electronic components, textiles and footwear will have more opportunities to be exported to this market, he noted.
