Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja
The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for more economic cooperation between Nigeria and Vietnam in order to address the trade deficit between both countries.
President of the ACCI, Adetokunbo Kayode, said this in Abuja on Wednesday at the opening session of the Nigeria-Vietnam Trade and Investment Summit.
He said while trade and economic activities were gradually improving between the two countries, there was a need to explore the potential in other key sectors of their economies.
He gave the areas where economic cooperation should be further improved as oil and gas, transportation, maritime, mining, construction, power, agriculture, cement, engineering, telecommunications and education.
He said as of 2017, the trade volume between the two countries was about $303.8 with Nigeria’s export to Vietnam put at about $232.65m.
The export, according to him, is mainly in raw materials especially cashew nuts.
On the other hand, he said Nigeria’s imports from Vietnam were worth $71.18m made up of mobile phones, electronics, textiles, plastic, chemicals and machine parts.
He said, “Nigeria and Vietnam must devise more areas of economic cooperation in important sectors such as oil and gas, maritime, mining, construction, power, agriculture, cement, transportation, engineering, telecommunications and education.
“This is in order to add maximal value to our economies on a win-win basis and to ensure mutual prosperity.
“The ACCI with the Organised Private Sector is prepared to partner with the investors in all the identified sectors. We have identified critical sectors such as wood processing, footwear, cashew farming/processing, cotton farming/processing; cocoa farming/processing, textile mills, garment industries, motor/tricycle manufacturing and assembly, trucks assembly, tourism, culture, manufacturing and agriculture.”
The Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Mr Dang Hoang An, said the trade relations between both countries would begin to see improvement.
He said with Nigeria having a population of 200 million, the country accounted for a huge chunk of the market size in West Africa.
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