Promote economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and Romania

Opportunities for cooperation in oil and gas, digital transformation... are still many

On the sidelines of the 17th Meeting of the Vietnam - Romania Joint Committee, on the afternoon of November 21, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Romanian Ministry of Economy, Enterprise and Tourism coordinated to organize the Discussion " Promoting economic cooperation between Vietnam and Romania" with the participation of many representatives of ministries, branches and large businesses of the two countries.

The discussion is expected to remove difficulties and obstacles and provide specific solutions to strengthen cooperation in all fields between Vietnam and Romania; in which the focus is on economic - trade - investment cooperation, industry, energy, science and technology, environmental protection, climate change prevention, labor, tourism...

Seminar "Promoting economic cooperation between Vietnam and Romania" takes place on the afternoon of November 21, 2023

In his opening speech at the discussion, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan said that Romania is a traditional partner of Vietnam. South in Southeast Europe and is the gateway to penetrate the markets of European Union (EU) countries. Meanwhile, Vietnam is a large market with about 100 million people, ready to be the gateway for Romania to penetrate the markets of ASEAN countries.

Introducing Vietnam's strengths and bright spots in attracting Romanian businesses to invest and promote business cooperation, Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan said that Vietnam has a positively growing economy. , stable. GDP in 2022 will reach a growth rate of 8.02%, the highest in the past 10 years. The World Bank and many economic organizations share the same opinion that Vietnam will continue to make strong progress, belonging to the group of countries with the highest growth rate in the world in the near future.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan introduced Vietnam's strengths and bright spots in attracting Romanian businesses to invest.

Besides, according to the Deputy Minister, in recent years, Vietnam's foreign trade exchange with the world has increased sharply. In 2021, Vietnam's total import-export turnover of goods will reach 680 billion USD, an impressive growth of 19% in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic, which has had a profound impact on the world economy. In 2022, Vietnam's total export turnover of goods will reach 731 billion USD, an increase of 9.4% compared to 2021.

Notably, currently, Vietnam is in the group of 20 countries attracting the most FDI in the world. In the Southeast Asia region, in the period 2015-2022, Vietnam always holds the 3rd/10th position in the ranking of countries attracting the most FDI inflows in the bloc. Along with that, the policy and legal system related to economic development, trade and investment management in Vietnam is currently quite complete and is gradually being improved.

According to statistics, there are currently more than 12 main laws related to the economy, trade and investment including: Enterprise Law, Investment Law, Commercial Law, Foreign Trade Management Law, Bidding Law, Real Estate Business Law Property, Securities Law, Law on Negotiable Instruments, Law on Electronic Transactions, Law on Technology Transfer, Law on Competition, Law on Commercial Arbitration... and many legal documents detailing, guiding the above laws issued by the Government, Prime Minister, Ministries and branches to create favorable conditions for foreign businesses to invest and do business in Vietnam.

In addition, according to the Deputy Minister, Vietnam is an attractive investment destination because Vietnam has signed and put into effect 16 Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and is in the process of negotiating 3 Agreements. other free trade, thereby establishing free trade relations with many of the world's leading trading partners.

"Thanks to these Agreements, Vietnam has a large commodity market, and Vietnam's exported goods enjoy tax incentives, including many The group of goods has a tax rate of 0%", Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan emphasized.

Minister Stefan-Radu Oprea affirmed that Vietnam and Romania have great opportunities and potential for cooperation in all fields.

Emphasizing the potential for cooperation between the two countries, Romanian Minister of Economy, Enterprise and Tourism Stefan-Radu Oprea also said that the Discussion and Session 17 of the Vietnam - Romania Joint Committee is an opportunity for The two countries' business communities exchange and seek investment and business cooperation opportunities, thereby promoting bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and Romania.

Minister Stefan-Radu Oprea affirmed that Vietnam and Romania have great opportunities and potential for cooperation in all fields, especially in economics, trade, investment, and education. Besides, opportunities for cooperation in traditional fields such as oil and gas or in new fields such as digital transformation, renewable energy... are still open.

Continue to facilitate trade for import and export goods

Although the potential for cooperation between the two countries is still very large, according to Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan, recently, trade and economic cooperation between the two countries has not been as expected. In the period 2019 - 2022, bilateral trade between the two countries increased more than 1.6 times from 261 million USD to 425 million USD. In particular, Vietnam's exports to Romania increased 1.66 times from nearly 194 million USD in 2019 to 322.4 million USD in 2022; Vietnam's imports from Romania increased 1.52 times from 67.5 million USD to 102.6 million USD.

"However, the above numbers are not commensurate with the potential and relations of the two countries" - Deputy Minister commented and said that Vietnam's export turnover to Romania in 2022 only corresponds to 0.24% of Romanian imports, while Romanian exports to Vietnam only account for 0.03% of import turnover. of Vietnam.

The Deputy Minister analyzed that the first and most important reason is that the market information of both sides is limited. The business communities of the two sides still lack information about each other, the understanding of the two countries' businesses about each other's markets and business cultures is still relatively sketchy, leading to ineffective cooperation; Negotiation takes a long time and is done many times.

Along with that, geographical distance is a big barrier to understanding and penetrating each other's markets. High transportation costs and time take a lot of time, making it difficult for each country's goods to reach each other's markets. On the other hand, non-tariff barriers are also a challenge in promoting trade cooperation between the two sides.

"These issues are being gradually resolved by the state management agencies of both sides and trade between the two countries will have more favorable conditions< /span>" - Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan expected and stated clearly that, in the coming time, connecting trade, sharing market information and facilitating trade for imported and exported goods... will be the areas of concern. The two countries focus on implementation.

Mr. Ta Hoang Linh proposed solutions to help businesses of Vietnam and Romania exploit each other's strengths

Offering solutions to help businesses of the two countries exploit each other's strengths, Mr. Ta Hoang Linh - Director of the European - American Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) proposed: The two sides need to promote activities information, market research; Identify potential areas where both sides have strengths as well as competitiveness to boost exports...

"The Ministry of Industry and Trade is always ready to create the most favorable conditions for the business communities of the two countries to have opportunities to exchange and connect trade through Trade promotion activities, exhibitions... help businesses from both sides penetrate deeper into each other's markets" - Director Ta Hoang Linh committed and said that it is expected that in the near future, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will organize a large-scale business delegation to visit and work in Romania to exchange and expand cooperation opportunities for foreign countries. Product industry: Textiles, footwear, seafood, household goods...

Within the framework of the discussion "Promoting economic cooperation between Vietnam and Romania", the business community of the two countries Vietnam - Romania had direct trade meetings to exchange and seek investment cooperation opportunities. in strong fields such as: Trade, electric cars, oil and gas, electricity, construction, aviation, tourism...