Vietnam - Canada effectively implement cooperation mechanisms, promote bilateral trade

On July 16, 2024, in Italy, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien met with Canadian Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Mary Ng. At the meeting, Minister Mary Ng emphasized that Canada highly values Vietnam's central role in implementing its Indo-Pacific Strategy and looks forward to deepening economic and trade cooperation with Vietnam. Minister Dien said that like Canada, Vietnam has an open economic policy and deeply participates in the global supply chain. He hopes that Vietnam and Canada will serve as good bridges for each other in ASEAN, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Americas, as well as in the global supply chain. Sharing his views on the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Minister Nguyen Hong Dien stated that the UK’s CPTPP membership will bring many practical benefits, further promoting trade and investment relations within the CPTPP bloc. With its position as the world’s fifth-largest economy, a member of the G7, and its extensive experience in trade and international rule-making, the UK’s accession to the CPTPP will help promote and strengthen the agreement's status as a new-generation, high-standard FTA, serving as a global economic cooperation model for the 21st century. This, in turn, will attract more economies to join this regional FTA. Vietnam has highly rated the proactive, positive efforts of Canada, as the Chair of the CPTPP in 2024, especially in proposing useful initiatives and activities to help the CPTPP maintain its status as an exemplary FTA capable of addressing regional and global trade challenges. To promote economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and Canada, the two countries need to further maintain close coordination within existing cooperation mechanisms and support each other in multilateral organizations and forums such as the WTO, APEC, CPTPP, and the Francophonie. They should also prepare to leverage upcoming cooperation mechanisms where both are members, such as Canada-ASEAN, especially the recently established Canada-Vietnam Joint Economic Committee (JEC).