The export market of Vietnam's agricultural products have now expanded to more than 180 countries and territories with the country earning some US$20.1 billion from exporting food and agricultural products in the first nine months of this year. The figure, which is up 10.8 per cent over the same period in 2020 was attributed to a significant increase in both export volume and value of many agricultural products, reported Vietnam News Agency. Deputy Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Le Hoang Tai during the India-Mekong trade connection programme held virtually on Monday emphasised that farm produce and food were key exports of Vietnam. He said the participation in new-generation free trade agreements and extensive international economic integration brings great opportunities for Vietnam, adding that Vietnam could cooperate with India, Cambodia and Thailand to expand export markets for its agricultural products.
Vivek Sharma, General Director of Aarna Agro & Angel Fine Foods, said that the Vietnamese market could utilise very well equipment serving agricultural production. Vietnam has imported many products from India such as cotton, spice and especially rice, he added. Representatives of trade promotion agencies and business communities of India and three countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) namely Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia gathered at the trade connection programme with participants expressing their interest in tariffs and import-export procedures of the GMS countries and India. This formed part of a series of activities of a project to strengthen international integration of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of India and the GMS countries, towards promoting global value chains and trade between India and the GMS countries, which is financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).