PH, Vietnam level up bilateral trade

THE Philippines and Vietnam have agreed to level up their bilateral trade, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said on Wednesday (Sept. 28).

The DTI official said that this was one of the important issues agreed upon by President Rodrigo R. Duterte and Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang in their bilateral talks held at the state palace.

“Both sides -- the Presidents of both countries, Philippines and Vietnam -- have agreed to really level up the trade that we have. In other words, increase the trade numbers that we have essentially since the Philippines still has a lot of products that have great potential in the Vietnam market,” Lopez said.

He said that President Duterte is encouraging Vietnamese businessmen to invest in the country and import more products from the Philippines.

“The President made the assurance that investments will be protected and a more conducive investment climate will be provided for Vietnamese investors,” the Philippine trade official said.

“Essentially, what he (President Duterte) said to them was: Invest in the Philippines, we will protect your investors, your investments, contracts will be honored,” Lopez said.

He said that at present, there are more Philippine investors entering Vietnam which include the Universal Robina Corporation, San Miguel Corporation, Ayala Group, Jollibee and Splash.

Likewise, President Duterte also asked Vietnam to improve the trade balance between the two countries by importing more products from the Philippines.

“The President himself asked for cooperation from the Vietnam people to consider importing products from the Philippines as we import rice from Vietnam,” Lopez said, noting that Vietnam supplies about 48 percent of Philippine rice imports.