Chances for trade and investment cooperation with Singapore and Malaysia under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) were highlighted at a workshop held in the southern province of Long An on August 30.

 

Do Phuong Dung, Deputy Director of the Asia-Africa Market Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said Vietnam-Singapore relations have been developing unceasingly in recent years.

 

Singapore is one of the biggest ASEAN trade partners of Vietnam with bilateral trade reaching 7.66 billion USD in 2018, including 3.14 billion USD of Vietnam’s exports.

 

Meanwhile, Malaysia is also a largest trade partner when bilateral trade hit 11.5 billion USD last year, including 4 billion USD of Vietnam’s exports.

 

Vice Chairman of the Long An People’s Committee Pham Van Canh said among the 576 foreign direct investment projects in the province, Singapore has invested 521 million USD in 36 projects while Malaysia 37 million USD in 12 projects, respectively ranking 7th and 14th among foreign investors in Long An.

 

They are also two important destinations of local exporters which shipped 316.34 million USD worth of goods to Singapore and another 95.7 million USD to Malaysia in 2018, he noted.

 

At the workshop, held by the Asia-Africa Market Department and the Long An Department of Industry and Trade, participants focused on the CPTPP’s benefits that Vietnamese enterprises can capitalise on to boost exports to Singapore and Malaysia. They also looked into trade and investment ties, along with prospects of cooperation in the fields between Vietnam and the two countries.

 

The CPTPP – one of the largest trade deals in the world – covers a combined GDP of more than 13.8 trillion USD and a market of 500 million people. It gathers 11 countries, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

 

The deal officially took effect in December 2018 in Mexico, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada and Australia – the first six countries to ratify the pact. It came into force in Vietnam on January 14 this year.-VNA