ISLAMABAD: Vietnamese Ambassador in Pakistan Nguyen Tien Phong has said mutual trade between Pakistan and Vietnam would reach $1 billion during the fiscal year 2023-24. He said the bilateral trade could be increases further, but there was the need for a mechanism to resolve disputes in advance.
Mutual trade disputes should be resolved within a certain period of time, Ambassador Phong said while addressing a workshop on “Improving capacity to handle trade disputes, removing bottlenecks, expanding opportunities for Vietnam -Pakistan economic, trade and investment cooperation”, organized here by the Embassy of Vietnam in Islamabad.
He said that the two countries could take advantage of the Vietnam-European Union Free Trade Agreement and Pakistan-European Union (GSP- Plus), which were very important for increasing bilateral trade. The Vietnamese envoy said that in the year 2021, the mutual trade between the two countries was $790 million and $940 million in 2022, and was expected to reach $ 1 billion in the ongoing financial year.
He said that there was a need for a dynamic partnership between the two countries which would resolve trade disputes in advance by emphasizing only on mutual benefit and make quick decisions. The public and private sector institutions of both countries needed to come closer and the role of chambers and business associations along with the media was very important for creating awareness about each other’s markets, he added.
Memorandums of Understanding should be signed in the regard by the two sides with a mechanism for their implementation, he added. Pakistan’s Ambassador to Vietnam Samina Mahtab, in her remarks, said that the mutual trade volume between the two countries in 2021 was up to $514 million, which would reach $1 billion in the current fiscal year.
He said,“ We need mutual cooperation at the sectoral level and along with this; the public and private sectors should play their full role for resolving trade disputes.” Director General Trade Disputes Resolution Organization, Ministry of Commerce, Abdul Salam Shah said a new law for the resolution of trade disputes was coming in the cabinet.
Under the new law, trade disputes would be decided in a time frame. President of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Dr. Khurram Tariq also emphasized that trade agreements must be strictly implemented. Other speakers included representatives of trade chambers and associations, including President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce Iftikhar Ahmad Sheikh, and representatives of the public and private sector who stressed on solving the trade disputes to increase the mutual trade between the two countries and asked for the creation of a mechanism for implementation of to resolve the disputes.
