Representatives of trade promotion agencies and business communities of India and three countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), namely Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, gathered at an online India-Mekong trade connection programme on October 11.

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Representatives of trade promotion agencies and business communities of India and three countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), namely Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, gathered at an online India-Mekong trade connection programme on October 11.

This formed part of a series of activities of a project to strengthen international integration of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of India and the GMS countries, towards promoting global value chains and trade between India and the GMS countries, which is financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Le Hoang Tai, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, emphasised that farm produce and food are key exports of Vietnam.

In the first nine months of 2021, Vietnam earned 20.1 billion USD from exporting food and agricultural products, up 10.8 percent over the same period in 2020. The growth was attributed to a significant increase in both export volume and value of many agricultural products.

The export markets of Vietnam's agricultural products have expanded to more than 180 countries and territories. In particular, there is a shift from medium-segment markets to higher segment markets.

Tai said the participation in new-generation free trade agreements and extensive international economic integration bring great opportunities for Vietnam, adding that Vietnam can cooperate with India, Cambodia and Thailand to expand export markets for its agricultural products.

Vivek Sharma, General Director of Aarna Agro & Angel Fine Foods, said that the Vietnamese market can utilise very well equipment serving agricultural production.

Vietnam has imported many products from India such as cotton, spice products, especially rice, he added.

Participants expressed their interest in tariffs and import-export procedures of the GMS countries and India./.