Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese trade counselors in the Americas gathered at a conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 18 to evaluate their work in the past time and discuss orientations and tasks in the time ahead, aiming to further promote the export of Vietnam's goods to countries in the region and the world.

Attending the event online from Hanoi, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien hailed the performance of trade offices in the Americas, where there are leading strategic export partners of Vietnam. This is also a priority region for Vietnam in its efforts to expand multi-faceted cooperation.

The minister asked the conference to seek solutions to enhance the effectiveness of market research and trade promotion activities towards bringing more Vietnamese goods into distribution chains in the continent. He suggested building a shared database on the market and optimising the role of the large Vietnamese community in the region.

He also emphasised the need to intensify economic, trade and energy cooperation between Vietnam and partners in the Americas and capitalise on the existing mechanisms like inter-Governmental committees, joint committees, strategic partnership frameworks, comprehensive partnerships and signed free trade agreements to promote collaboration and attract investment in fundamental industries, supporting industries and high-tech industries.

The conference put a focus on assessing the current situation and trends of economic and trade policy in American countries along with their impacts on Vietnam, and made recommendations on strategies and measures to develop the market for Vietnamese goods in this region during 2024-2026 and following years. Participants shared experiences in implementing economic and trade cooperation frameworks and explored the possibility of building new ones with countries in the continent.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan required the trade offices in the Americas to continue to research and propose new cooperative mechanisms and policies for the country to participate deeper in regional and global value chains as well as in the formation of new ones.

He stressed that trade offices need to closely follow and assess international situations as well as policy changes in their host countries so as to timely advise the ministry and the Government to take appropriate responses and policies.

In the first ten months of 2024, Vietnam's export turnover with American countries regained strong growth momentum, reaching 114.9 billion USD, up 22.3% compared to 2023, and accounting for 34.2% of the country's total.

The US, members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the MERCOSUR bloc continued to be the largest importers of Vietnamese goods, buying 98.7 billion USD (up 24.6%); 11.3 billion USD (up 15.4%) and 2.8 billion USD (down 9.3%) respectively in the period.

Currently, Vietnam has signed and implemented three trade preferential agreements with countries in the Americas, which are the Vietnam-Chile Free Trade Agreement, the CPTPP with four cou♕ntries of Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile, ✤and the Vietnam-Cuba Trade Agreement./.