Viet Nam and Mexico were looking to enhance trade and investment co-operation at the first meeting of the Joint Committee of Economic, Trade and Investment Co-operation.

The meeting was held between the Viet Nam Ministry of Industry and Trade and Mexico Ministry of Economy in Ha Noi on Tuesday.

The two sides discussed mechanisms to hold dialogues periodically to create opportunities for businesses to exchange information and promote co-operation.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Do Thang Hai, proposed to Mexico to consider removing the temporary ban on imports of Vietnamese shrimp products.

Hai also urged further co-operation in the trade of rice. Specifically, Hai expected Mexico to regularly provide updates about its rice import quotas and information about rice importers with granted quotas for Viet Nam to look for opportunities to export rice to Mexico.

At the meeting, Viet Nam also shared updates about trade policies and co-operation opportunities in training, technology transfer and hi-tech agriculture.

Minister of Economy, Juan Carlos Baker, said that Mexico had interests in promoting exports of healthcare and agricultural products to Viet Nam, besides cooperation in intellectual property, information technology and financial services.

He said that the two sides should speed up the negotiations of memoranda of understanding in quarantine checks.

Mexico is the third largest trade partner of Viet Nam in Latin America.

In the first nine months of this year, the bilateral trade reached more than US$2.2 billion, in which, Viet Nam’s export to Mexico was worth $1.8 billion. — VNS