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Vietnam and Laos eye 2 billion USD in two-way trade (Photo: VNA)
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Accordingly, the figure has surged 28.2% annually to 1.4 billion USD in ten months of this year, said the Vietnam News Agency.
Speaking at the event, Somvixay Vongthilath, Deputy Director of Trade Promotion Department under the Lao Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC), said the event offers a chance to listen to concerns of businesses and review the efficiency of existing cooperation frameworks to fine-tune policies, mechanisms and laws, thus helping firms improve their production and export capacity, even export to the third country.
Deputy Head of the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of Asia-Africa Markets Do Quoc Hung said Laos now ranks first among 78 countries and territories invested by Vietnam. Meanwhile, Vietnam is the third biggest investor in Laos, mostly in agriculture, banking, finance, telecommunications, manufacturing and processing.
Reports at the event focused on trade achievements between the two countries, bilateral cooperation in market management and energy development.
Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese Business Association in Laos Nguyen Xuan Ha suggested the MIC issue policies to protect domestically-made goods and importers of goods via official channels.
He also urged the two governments and the Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport to soon upgrade the Lao section of road linking Vietnam and Laos and build the Hanoi-Vientiane expressway to save time and cost of trade between the two nations.
Participants at the event debated ways to pool more resources and corporate involvement in trade infrastructure, retail distribution and processing industry to achieve the set target of 2 billion USD soon.
Vietnam has two more named in Asia-Pacific documentary heritage list
Two heritage pieces of Vietnam were recognised as part of documentary heritage in Asia and the Pacific on November 26, at the 9th general meeting of the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP) in Andong city, the Republic of Korea, reported the Vietnam News Agency.
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| The “ma nhai” steles on Ngu Hanh Son Mountain in central Da Nang city were recognised as part of documentary heritage in Asia and the Pacific (Photo: congthuong.vn) |
Of the newly recognised, the 78 “ma nhai” steles on Ngu Hanh Son Mountain in central Da Nang city features writings of various genres by kings and mandarins of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802 - 1945), monks, and scholars who used to set foot in the scenic landscape between the first half of the 17th century and the 1960s.
The steles comprise 76 with writings in the Chinese script and two with writings in the Nom - an old script of Vietnam - according to the Cultural Heritage Department of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The other heritage is a collection of handwritten Chinese and Nom documents in Truong Luu village of central Ha Tinh province. They consist of 26 title conferring documents by kings of the Le and Nguyen dynasties, 19 diplomas, and three silk tapestries written in the Chinese and Nom, scripted between 1689 and 1943.
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A handwritten document in Truong Luu village of Ha Tinh province (Source: Cultural Heritage Department)
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These documents are rare about culture and education in a rural village in central Vietnam. They are original materials helping with the study of society between the late 17th century and the mid-20th century.
Aside from the Vietnamese heritage, MOWCAP also included others in the Asia-Pacific documentary heritage list, including one from Singapore, one from Indonesia, one from Iran, two from the Republic of Korea, and two from China.
With the two abovementioned pieces, Vietnam now has nine in documentary heritage lists of UNESCO, including three in the world list and six in the Asia-Pacific list.
Tra fish nets impressive export growth
Tra fish exports recorded impressive growth in the first 10 months of 2022, with turnover eclipsing the 2.2 billion USD mark, according to the Vietnam News Agency.
The yearly export turnover is forecast to top 2.5 billion USD, up 58% compared to that of the same period last year.
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| Tra fish processing for export (Photo: VNA) |
According to businesses, in 2022, global inflation and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have sharply increased the export of affordable white fish products such as tra fish. The import value of tra fish products from Vietnam have increased by 40-200% this year.
At present, the two biggest importers of Vietnamese tra fish are China and the US, accounting for 30% and 23% of the Southeast Asian country’s total export volume, respectively. In the January-October period, the value of tra fish exports to China reported a year-on-year rise of 110% to 647 million USD.
Those two members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and several Asian, North, and South American markets such as Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, and Chile also recorded impressive growth. Notably, the export to Canada posted a fourfold increase compared to that of the same period last year.
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| Tra fish exports recorded impressive growth in the first 10 months of 2022 (Photo: VNA) |
At present, Vietnam has over 400 businesses engaged in the export of tra fish, most of them have reported growth over the same period last year, mainly thanks to increases in export prices.
Tra fish exporters are advised to continue their negotiations to expand their markets, and take advantage of opportunities brought about by free trade agreements (FTAs) to boost exports and promote brand./.