HCM City (VNA) - Thereis great potential for trade cooperation between Vietnam and Nigeria andinvestment in many sectors like agriculture, agricultural processing, garment,footwear, mining, and production of construction materials, a forum heard in HoChi Minh City on April 16.

Speaking at the forum, Nguyen TheHung, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)’sHCM City Branch, said many African countries, including Nigeria,had become increasingly important economic partners of Vietnam.

Trade between Vietnam and Nigeriahas shot up from 250 million USD a year in 2012-2016 to 433.5 million USD in2017, with Vietnam running a deficit of 303.9 million USD.

Vietnam exports 52 items toNigeria, including mobile phones and components, textiles, footwear, cigarettesand tobacco, plastic products, chemicals, machinery and spare parts, computers,and electronic devices.

It imports raw cashew nuts, woodand wood products and cotton yarn, with the first two accounting for over 80 percent.

Sunday Edet Akpan, permanentsecretary at Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Industries, Trade and Investment,highlighted some of the investment opportunities.

Nigeria has a large domesticmarket, the largest in Africa, and the 27th largest economy in the worldand a large population of over 190 million.

“The Nigerian Government isimplementing an Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) in 2017 - 20 to createinclusive growth in the economy by improving human capacity, promoting economicdiversification, investing in infrastructure, and building a globallycompetitive economy,” he said.

“To deliver on the vision of thiseconomic programme, the Government is executing critical reforms which have unlockeda lot of investment opportunities and we invite you today to take advantage ofthe investment opportunities in the ERGP,” the official added.

A lot of investment opportunitiesexist in mining and processing of solid minerals, agricultural sector,large-scale commercial agricultural production and other sectors, he said.

“Nigeria’s trade with Vietnam ischaracterised by primary commodities, mainly cashew nuts and wood. However, westrongly believe that this can be improved upon and expanded to include otherprocessed commodities and manufactured goods in line with the developmentalaspirations and economic policies of our countries.

“It is clear for example that,given Nigeria’s vast resources in land, minerals and agricultural produce, theopportunities for product manufacturing and produce processing are limitless.

“Fortunately for Vietnam, it isstrategically located in a region where it can take full advantage of recenttechnological advances in developing its own economy.

“The various manufacturing andprocessing factories now springing up in Vietnam could be brought to Nigeria,where raw materials abound to the benefits of both countries.”

Hung said: “Nigeria is animportant gateway for Vietnamese firms to penetrate the African market. It isforecast that by 2050 Nigeria will be the third most populous country in theworld; so this will be a big market for Vietnamese enterprises.”

He said the business community onboth sides should take advantage of each other’s strengths, especially in thefield of raw material production, human resources, technology, processing and exportsto take their trade and investment relations to new heights.

Organised by the VCCI and theNigeria-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the forum was followed by abusiness-to-business meeting to enable further exchange of information and co-operationopportunities.-VNA