Asunción, Agencia IP-. The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Javier Giménez, met with his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Hong Dien, ratifying the firm commitment to encouraging commercial exchange between both nations.
This is the first time that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has visited Vietnam, intending to open the doors of one of the world’s most populous markets, Southeast Asia.
This visit continues a series of conversations with business delegations from that country. It is worth remembering that the President of the Republic, Santiago Peña, commissioned the MIC to open new markets, among them that of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), made up of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.
In this sense, Ministers Javier Giménez and Nguyen Hong Dien agreed to carry out mutual support cooperation.
Likewise, the Paraguayan Minister held various meetings with businessmen from different sectors, such as the Foreign Trade Agency, the European and American market director Ta Hoang Linh, and the director of the multilateral Trade Policy Department.
In addition, Giménez spoke with Military Industry and Telecommunications Group (Viettel) representatives, one of Vietnam’s most valuable telecommunications brands, the number one entity in Southeast Asia and the ninth in Asia.
According to details, the Vietnam company was interested in the country, so they will carry out a mission in Paraguay to learn more about investments within Paraguayan territory.
Bilateral relationship
This is the first time a Paraguayan Minister of Industry and Commerce had visited Vietnam since 1995 when diplomatic relations began.
Regarding the current commercial relationship with said nation, it is worth mentioning that the ASEAN market has a population of almost 700 million people and imports more than 1.3 million tons of meat and offal annually.
Regarding Vietnam specifically, according to data from the Central Bank of Paraguay, in 2023, bilateral trade with Vietnam was USD 237 million, and exports reached a value of USD 128 million.
The main items were soybean cake, for USD 41 million; beef, for USD 26 million; and cotton, for USD 19 million.
Imports were worth USD 109 million, and the main products were cellular phones, worth USD 74 million, followed by footwear, worth USD 7 million, and TV monitors, worth USD 4 million.