What do Vietnamese and Brazilian businesses expect from the President's visit?

The Brazilian President's visit to Vietnam is both an opportunity for the two countries to penetrate deeper into each other's markets and lays the foundation for promoting ASEAN-MERCOSUR cooperation.

Platform to promote cooperation between ASEAN and MERCOSUR

From March 27-29, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will pay an official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of President Luong Cuong.

The Brazilian President's visit is of special significance to the Vietnam-Brazil relationship, demonstrating the Brazilian government's deep interest in the Asian region, including Vietnam. This is also considered an important milestone in bilateral relations, taking place in the context of the two countries upgrading their relationship to a strategic partnership during the working visit of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to attend the G20 Summit in Brazil in November 2024.

Sharing with the press about the role and importance of the visit, Vietnamese Ambassador to Brazil Bui Van Nghi said that this visit by the Brazilian President will create a strong driving force to bring bilateral relations to a new level, and is an opportunity for leaders of the two countries to exchange and discuss specific measures to realize the strategic partnership.

Ambassador Bui Van Nghi also said that after this visit, cooperation areas such as: Politics - security, economy - trade - investment, science - technology - innovation, culture and society... will be discussed by senior leaders, exchanging more solutions to make cooperation in the above fields more substantial and effective.

“The agreements reached during the visit will create an important foundation to promote sustainable and comprehensive bilateral cooperation in the coming time,” Ambassador Bui Van Nghi said, emphasizing that the results of the visit will also play an important role in promoting dialogue and cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries, creating new business opportunities and paving the way for potential investment projects.

Vietnam's main exports to Brazil are seafood, rubber, textiles, footwear... Photo: Binh An

Informing the Industry and Trade Newspaper about the results of the economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and Brazil, the Department of Foreign Market Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Brazil is currently Vietnam's largest trading partner in Latin America.

In recent years, bilateral trade relations between Vietnam and Brazil have increased rapidly, from 1.53 billion USD in 2011 to 6.78 billion USD in 2022; more than 7.1 billion USD in 2023 and 7.7 billion USD in 2024. The two countries strive to increase bilateral turnover to 10 billion USD in 2025 and 15 billion USD in 2030.

Vietnam mainly exports seafood, rubber, textiles, footwear, iron and steel to Brazil; and imports from Brazil soybeans, wheat, corn, animal feed and raw materials, cotton of all kinds...

Mr. Ngo Xuan Ty - Head of the Vietnam Trade Office in Brazil - also commented that the current demand for importing Vietnam's strong products into the Brazilian market is relatively good to meet domestic consumption needs, serve production and re-export of local enterprises. Vietnamese enterprises need to promote export opportunities.

Brazil is not only the largest economy in Latin America, but also Vietnam's first strategic partner in the region. Promoting mutually beneficial relations with Brazil will contribute to consolidating and enhancing Vietnam's position and prestige in Latin America, creating more opportunities for cooperation between southern countries on bilateral and multilateral levels, especially in the current complicated situation.

In addition, Vietnam and Brazil are both active members of regional multilateral organizations such as ASEAN and MERCOSUR. The Brazilian President’s official visit to Vietnam not only creates an opportunity for the two countries to penetrate deeper into each other’s regional markets, but also lays the foundation for promoting cooperation between ASEAN and MERCOSUR in the future. This will help strengthen economic ties between Southeast Asia and South America, while enhancing the positions of both Vietnam and Brazil in the international arena.

Realizing the goal of increasing bilateral trade turnover

During Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to Brazil in November 2024, the leaders of the two countries set a goal of increasing Vietnam-Brazil bilateral trade turnover to 10 billion USD by 2025 and 15 billion USD by 2030. Therefore, this official visit to Vietnam by the Brazilian President will also contribute to achieving the above goal.

Realizing the goals set by the two countries' senior leaders, Vietnam and Brazil have been promoting cooperation in areas of strength such as agriculture, food processing, manufacturing industry and renewable energy.

One of the major priorities now is to promote negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the MERCOSUR bloc to remove barriers and create more favorable conditions for businesses of the two countries to expand their markets.

Brazil is currently a member of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR). With nearly 300 million consumers, accounting for about 70% of the South American population. MERCOSUR is a very potential market for Vietnam's export products such as garments, footwear, handicrafts, and processed foods.

Meeting with the President of Brazil, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked Brazil to support and promote the early launch of FTA negotiations between Vietnam and the Mercosur bloc. (Photo taken at the meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil in November 2024)

Through the FTA between Vietnam and MERCOSUR, Brazil can become a bridge to help Vietnam access the markets of Latin American countries as well as MERCOSUR. Meanwhile, Vietnam will become a bridge to help Brazil access the large ASEAN market with more than 650 million people and a larger market with 800 million people of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

When the Vietnam-MERCOSUR FTA is signed, it will bring many opportunities and benefits to Vietnam, from expanding export markets, attracting investment to strengthening cooperation in many different fields. This will not only contribute to Vietnam's economic development but also enhance Vietnam's position in the context of increasingly deep international integration.

Sharing the Embassy's plan to promote trade, connect businesses, and contribute to realizing the goal of increasing bilateral trade turnover, Vietnamese Ambassador to Brazil Bui Van Nghi also said that the Embassy and the Vietnamese Trade Office in Brazil have coordinated with domestic agencies to organize activities to promote economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, including trade connection activities, promoting the export of key products of Vietnam, and promoting the introduction of Brazilian plant and animal varieties into production in Vietnam such as quail and peach palm.

In particular, at the Vietnam - Brazil Business Forum held in November 2024 in Brazil, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also called on Vietnamese enterprises to invest in Brazil and Brazilian enterprises to invest more in Vietnam, promoting bilateral trade; especially agricultural cooperation, ensuring food security; renewing traditional growth drivers and promoting new growth drivers, cooperating with Vietnam in exploiting new development spaces such as outer space, sea space, underground space.

Bilateral trade relations between Vietnam and Brazil have increased rapidly, from 1.53 billion USD in 2011 to 6.78 billion USD in 2022; more than 7.1 billion USD in 2023 and 7.7 billion USD in 2024. The two countries strive to increase bilateral turnover to 10 billion USD in 2025 and 15 billion USD in 2030.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/doanh-nghiep-viet-nam-brazil-ky-vong-gi-tu-chuyen-tham-cua-tong-thong-380236.html