Viet Nam’s export goods can compete with products of other countries in the South Korean market, local enterprises in South Korea said at a meeting between a delegation of Vietnamese enterprises and their partners in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday.

The South Korean enterprises said Vietnamese export goods have better packaging design, meeting the demand of the South Korean market and offer a competitive selling price compared with similar products from the Philippines, China, Indonesia and Thailand.

These are among the key factors to promote Viet Nam’s export goods to South Korea in the future, contributing to achieving the Viet Nam-South Korea trade value target of US$70 billion in 2020, according to the Department of Asian and African Markets under Viet Nam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The growth in exports from Viet Nam to South Korea will reduce Viet Nam’s trade deficit with South Korea and increase exports of processed seafood and agricultural products to the North Asian country.

During the meeting, Tran Anh Vu, counselor at the Viet Nam Embassy in South Korea, and Kim Hyun-myung, vice chairman of the Korean Importers Association (KOIMA), highlighted the importance of the South Korean market for Vietnamese goods and opportunities in business co-operation among enterprises of the two countries.

The Vietnam-South Korea strategic cooperation partnership with various cooperation frameworks in the economic sector has been an important tool to support the recent growth in bilateral trade, including the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement.

At the meeting, Le An Hai, deputy director of the Department of Asia and Africa Markets, said bilateral trade value between Viet Nam and South Korea in the first nine months reached over $45 billion, a year-on-year increase of 52 per cent. This nine month figure was higher than the total trade value of $43.4 billion between the two countries earned in the whole of last year.

This result was due to business meetings among enterprises of the two countries and authorities’ support in trading activities of the two countries’ enterprises, Hai said.

The meeting was organised by the Department of Asia and Africa Markets under Viet Nam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Vietnam Trade Office in South Korea and KOIMA. The meeting was expected to introduce more Vietnamese goods, mainly agricultural products, food items and household goods in the South Korean market. — VNS