Viet Nam and the Philippines have great potential for trade and investment, a conference heard in HCM City Wednesday.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh told the conference: “In recent years economic co-operation between Viet Nam and the Philippines has grown but is not commensurate with the two nations’ potential.”

Bilateral trade grew by 22 per cent last year to US$4 billion.

In the first five months of this year trade was worth $1.77 billion, an increase of 15.5 per cent year-on-year.

Viet Nam and the Philippines are each other’s fifth largest partners in Southeast Asian.

By the end of May the Philippines had invested $328 million in Viet Nam to rank 35^th out of 126 nations and territories investing in the country.

“The two countries have a great opportunity to strengthen economic and trade co-operation,” Khanh said.

“The Vietnamese Government is taking many steps to improve the business environment for foreign investors.”

Deputy Minister of Trade Ceferino Rodolfo said: “Viet Nam is one of the fastest growing markets in the world and attracts a lot of interest from foreign investors, including Philippine enterprises.”

At the conference, executives from 20 Philippine food processing, consumer goods, auto, and motorbike companies met with their counterparts from 10 Vietnamese companies to explore co-operate opportunities. — VNS