Mexico City (VNA) – TradeCounselor in Mexico and Panama Luu Van Khang has advised Vietnamese businessesto carefully study their partners, following a range of trade frauds in LatinAmerica in which firms from the Southeast Asian nation were victimised.

The official said language barriers makeVietnamese businesses more vulnerable to scams, adding that most of thecriminals use bank accounts in a third country to hinder investigationsby competent agencies.

Khang recommended Vietnamese enterprises to signcontracts with legally authorised representatives of their partners, and usethe L/C (letter of credit) payment method instead of T/T (telegraphictransfer).

If they have no choice except to use the T/T method,they should not transfer money to bank accounts in a third country or personal accounts,he added.  

Apart from coordinating with the Vietnamese TradeOffice in information verification, they should cooperate with law firms andbusiness associations in Mexico in particular and Latin America in general todiversify the sources of information, Khang said.

As members of the Comprehensive and ProgressiveAgreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Vietnam and Mexico have greatopportunities to boost their trade ties.

Mexico has committed to eliminating 77% of tarifflines from January 14, 2018, and 98% after a decade since the coming into forceof the agreement. As a result, Vietnam's exports such as seafood, coffee,rubber, phones, and auto components to Mexico have recently experiencedsignificant growth, ranging from 27% to 65%.

Mexico has also gradually increased its export ofbeef, pork, agricultural products, and beverages to the Southeast Asiannation./.