Positive progress of Vietnam-Colombia economic cooperation

Addressing the meeting, Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai praised the progress of bilateral trade relations, emphasizing that Colombia is Vietnam’s fifth largest trading partner in the Latin American region.

“Vietnam considers Colombia as an important partner in the region and is willing to cooperate with Colombia to boost trade, economic recovery and global supply chain links,” Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai said.

The first meeting of the Vietnam-Colombia Joint Economic Committee - photo: Ministry of Industry and Trade

Deputy Minister Soraya Caro Vargas expressed her satisfaction with the positive progress of bilateral trade relations in recent years, especially in the context that the two countries have been cooperating and supporting each other at international organizations, multilateral forums and inter-regional cooperation mechanisms. The positive growth of bilateral trade proves that trade relations between the two countries have been strengthened and expanded.

Despite these positive results, the two officials agreed that economic, trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and Colombia remains incommensurate with the potential. The Vietnamese and Colombian business communities still have to cope with numerous challenges in cooperation, such as geographical distance, lack of a route for direct transportation of goods, high logistics costs, language gap and lack of market information. Moreover, economic crisis, geopolitical conflicts and the COVID-19 pandemic’s long-term impacts have adversely affected global trade, including trade between Vietnam and Colombia.

The two officials agreed to maintain joint efforts to diversify imports and exports between the two countries, focusing on boosting the export of key products towards the goal of raising the bilateral trade value to US$1 billion in the next three years.

The two deputy ministers emphasized that the signing of the MoU and the establishment of the Vietnam-Colombia Joint Economic Committee marked a significant step forward in bilateral economic cooperation, demonstrating the commitment and determination of both sides to promote bilateral cooperation in a substantive and comprehensive manner in all areas, especially in economics, trade and investment. They agreed to make bilateral economic cooperation commensurate with the good traditional friendship between the two countries, especially in the context of preparations for the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties next year.

On this occasion, Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai had a working session with Colombian Minister of Labor Gloria Ines Ramirez. The Colombian official expressed her desire to strengthen the relationship between the Communist Party of Vietnam and Colombia’s ruling left-wing coalition, as well as the relations between the two governments and peoples, affirming that Vietnam is one of Colombia’s important partners.

Within the framework of the visit, Hai chaired a Vietnam-Colombia business forum with participants including Vietnamese companies and representatives of Colombian ministries, sectors, associations and businesses.

The forum gave Vietnamese and Colombian companies an opportunity to seek useful information for business connection and access to each other’s markets.