The Embassy of Vietnam in Canada on November 10 arranged a webinar on Vietnam and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), particularly chances for investment and export of home décor products.
The event, bringing together more than 100 firms of the two countries, provided the participants with updates on Vietnam’s business climate and chances for Canada’s timber firms, and helped businesses of the two countries connect and study markets.
In his opening remarks, Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada Pham Cao Phong underlined main factors that turn Vietnam into an attractive destination, including its strategic location in the centre of Southeast Asia and efforts in strengthening legal framework and institutions.
It is also a promising consumption market with a population of more than 96 million, with half of them under 35, he added.
The Vietnamese diplomat said it is a challenging time yet a major opportunity to bolster cooperation and bilateral economic-trade development, towards a common target of sustainable growth and prosperity for the two countries, in the spirit of the comprehensive partnership set up three years ago.
H.E. Ambassador Pham Cao Phong attending the Webinar as Keynote Speaker
Vietnam may become a bridge for Canadian goods and services to access 660 million consumers in ASEAN as well as other important markets in the region.
At the same time, Canada can serve as a gateway for Vietnamese products to penetrate other markets in America.
Under the CPTPP, Vietnam’s home decor products enjoy zero percent tariffs when entering Canada, while tariffs of 6-9 percent are imposed on products of other Asian countries.
Vietnam-Canada trade recorded a slight growth of 0.1 percent in the first half of this year while global trade plummeted.
In 2019, Vietnam, the fifth largest trade partner of Canada in Asia, imported timber worth about 25 million USD from Canada. It was also the fourth leading interior supplier of the North American country.