VCCI Vice President Bui Trung Nghia (7th from left) at the working session with the Venezuela business delegation

Mr. Oswaldo Hernández said Venezuela has opened its market to countries around the world, including Vietnam. Currently, Venezuelan businesses can settle forex payments with foreign businesses. Venezuela wants to seek opportunities and expand markets with Vietnam; and Vietnam, for its part, can also go to Venezuela to expand markets in Latin American countries.

“Venezuela is strong in the oil industry, but we want to cooperate with Vietnamese enterprises in other fields such as seafood and agriculture. Venezuela imports Vietnamese products like cinnamon, cashew nut and anise through third countries. Therefore, we seek to exchange directly with Vietnamese companies and directly purchase these items. In addition, we have high demand for apparel and footwear, which are strong exports of Vietnam to the world,” he noted.

He hoped VCCI would recommend Vietnamese companies to visit and learn about the Venezuelan market, he added. Currently, Venezuela has a lot of preferential policies for foreign investors, so Vietnamese investors can build production and processing factories in Venezuela to supply products locally and export them to neighboring countries.

VCCI Vice President Bui Trung Nghia said that Vietnam and Venezuela have a long-standing cooperative relationship, but their economic and trade cooperation relations are not commensurate with their potential. Vietnam's economy has developed strongly in recent years. In 2022, Vietnam's GDP is expected to expand 7%. Its economy is highly open, with 16 FTAs signed with countries and regions, such as CPTPP, EVFTA and RCEP.

During this visit, Venezuelan companies met and discussed directly with 60 Vietnamese partners in many fields to seek cooperation opportunities. VCCI Vice President Bui Trung Nghia said many Vietnamese companies can meet cooperation requirements of Venezuelan partners. Therefore, in the coming time, the two sides need to actively exchange information and find specific cooperation directions in sectors like agriculture, consumer goods, apparel, footwear, finance and banking.

Mr. Nghia suggested that the Venezuela-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce work out a plan for Venezuelan business delegations to visit Vietnam in combination with market research, trade and investment promotion between the two countries.

He also affirmed that VCCI is the largest and most innovative agency for business development, willing to support and cooperate with the Venezuela-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce to provide business information and support seeking cooperation, investment and business opportunities for enterprises of both sides.