VCCI’s Chairman – Mr. Pham Tan Cong (right) and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Vietnam- Mr. Uladzimir Baravikou.

During the meeting between the Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Pham Tan Cong and Mr. Uladzimir Baravikou, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus in Vietnam, the two sides had specific discussions to find out measures to strengthen cooperation between the business community of Vietnam and Belarus.

According to the Chairman of VCCI, the two sides do not have direct competitive products, and the Vietnamese market has a large population and high demand for goods, so the potential for Belarusian businesses to develop the market is still very high. The two sides can strengthen cooperation in the fields of agriculture and the automobile industry. Chairman Pham Tan Cong said that Belarusian enterprises can consider importing agricultural products such as wheat, sunflower oil, fruit, or seafood, natural rubber, etc.

In addition, the VCCI Chairman also suggested that the Embassy and Belarusian agencies continue to coordinate with VCCI to build information channels, as well as create the most favorable conditions for businesses so that they have the opportunity to search for information, cooperation, exchange and implementation of specific projects in order to balance the trade balance.

At the same time, the VCCI Chairman also suggested that the two sides strengthen coordination to jointly remove problems that still exist in the field of payment, transportation, etc., to avoid the case of high freight costs which leads to reducing the competitiveness of products.

Leaders of VCCI committed to strengthen support for Belarusian businesses to find suitable partners for investment business needs; as well as connecting industry associations of the two countries towards the goal of increasing trade turnover and investment projects in general. 

Agreeing with the views of the VCCI President, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Vietnam Uladzimir Baravikou said that Vietnam has always been a reliable and important partner of Belarus in the region. Currently, more and more Belarusian enterprises are interested in the Vietnamese market in particular and the ASEAN region in general. Especially in the industrial sector, Belarus has strong enterprises in the field of manufacturing trucks, passenger cars and buses to serve the needs of the Vietnamese market and export to third countries.

In particular, Belarus is also increasing exports to Vietnam of Belarusian products with strengths such as beef, dairy products, flour, biotechnology products, information technology, ore processing.. .

However, Ambassador Baravikou emphasized that the trade turnover between the two countries has not made any breakthroughs, not commensurate with the existing potential and the traditional friendly relationship between Vietnam and Belarus. Therefore, Mr. Baravikou suggested that the VCCI continue to strengthen cooperation with the Embassy and the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to organize forums, meetings and business meetings in the fields of interest of the two sides.

Belarus has a lot of strengths and we are ready to look for investment opportunities in Vietnam in the future," emphasized Mr. Baravilov.

It can be seen that, despite being affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, the bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and Belarus in 2021 still reached 168.8 million USD, up 131.6% compared to 2020. Among them, Vietnam's exports to Belarus reached 21.6 million USD, up 338%, Belarus' exports to Vietnam reached 147.2 million USD, up 116.6 %.

Regarding investment, by the end of 2021, Belarus has three investment projects in Vietnam with a total investment capital of 32.25 million USD, ranking 67th out of 140 countries and territories with investment capital. directly into Vietnam.