Vietnam Enters North African Market

The recent working visit by National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An and Vietnamese enterprises to three North African countries: Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, was considered to be of great success in both diplomatic and economic fields.

 

Accompanying Chairman An were 30 enterprises, which operate in food and foodstuff processing, construction, infrastructure development, textile and garment making, education, human resources development, import and export, and tourism.

 

Tran Thi Thuy, vice president of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and head of the Vietnamese enterprises’ delegation, said that with a structure of goods suitable with the demand of local consumers and potential for co-operation, Vietnamese enterprises and their partners in three North African countries had good opportunities to develop their long-term trade and investment relations. Based on the concrete landscapes, VCCI worked with chambers of commerce and industry of three countries and organised visits to major production and business establishments, thus helping Vietnamese enterprises to understand more about the business environment and customs in these countries.

 

Alongside talks between Chairman An and leaders of three countries, VCCI co-operated with its partners to organise meetings between Vietnamese and African enterprises with the participation of around 500 enterprises. Thuy said that via the meetings, many Algerian enterprises expressed their wish to import high quality rice from Vietnam and offer canned food products, and learn about frozen seafood and plant protection chemicals.

 

Furthermore, North African enterprises said they wanted to import motorbike accessories for assembly and manufacturing for local demand and exports. They said they wanted Vietnamese partners to transfer them motorbike assembly technology. In the meantime, enterprises in Tunisia and Morocco said they wished to co-operate with Vietnamese enterprises in exporting vegetables and fruit, and spices and proposed co-operation in brick production. In electric and electronic fields, Tunisia wants to import electric wires and cables for civil works.

 

Ms. Thuy went on to say that at forums, Vietnamese and African enterprises express their wish to learn about tourism markets and possibility for co-operation. African enterprises said they were interested in medicines. The Ministry of Health of Morocco had sent its officials to work with Vietnamese pharmaceutical enterprises to learn about the possibility to develop partnership between Vietnamese and Morocco enterprises.