Hanoi (VNA) – With a continuous rise in bilateraltrade in recent years, Chile has become the fourth largest trade partner andone of the biggest markets of Vietnam in the Latin American region.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), theVietnam-Chile trade has expanded impressively over the recent years, reaching 2.15billion USD in 2022, a year-on-year rise of 9%, including Vietnam’s exports of1.72 billion USD.

In 2011, the Vietnam-Chile Free Trade Agreement (VCFTA) was signed and went into effect on January 1, 2014, greatly contributing to promotingtrade between the two countries. Under the deal, Chile abolishes 99.62% of the total tax lines for Vietnamese exports in 10 years, while Vietnam alsoerases 87.8% of tax lines for Chile in 15 years.

Due to the global crisis, two-way trade growth is slowingdown. In the first five months of this year, the figure dropped to 696.7 millionUSD, down 25.1% year on year, including Vietnam’s exports of 501 million USD.

However, Vietnam is still the largest trade partner ofChile among the ASEAN member countries, according to the MoIT.

Vietnam is also a gateway for Chilean goods to enter theASEAN market, while Chile is expected to help Vietnamese products penetrate theNorth American market.

Especially, in the beginning of 2023, Chile approved the Comprehensiveand Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which isexpected to bring about a new breakthrough growth in the Vietnam-Chile tradeties.

The MoIT has proposed that the two sides roll out measuresto boost two-way trade by making full use of advantages from the CPTPP and the VCFTA,diversifying the imports and exports and creating favourable conditions for themarket opening process in each country.

It also suggested that the two countries strengthencooperation in fundamental industries such as materials production, metallurgy,mechanics, processing-manufacturing and electronics, while negotiating andsigning new deals in trade promotion, and tax and customs, thus creating a legalfoundation for cooperation activities.

At the same time, the two sides should strengthen theprovision of market information to each other, foster collaboration ine-commerce, and strengthen IT application and digital transformation in tradepromotion activities to increase connectivity among the two businesscommunities, the ministry suggested./.