Vietnamese firms seeking long-term partners in South Africa

Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Hoang Van Loi (L) presents a souvenir to John Lawson, CEO of Cape Chamber of Commerce (Photo: VNA)

Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Hoang Van Loi has called for the close coordination of the Cape Chamber of Commerce to help Vietnamese firms seek prestigious, long-term partners in Cape Town city and Western Cape province at large.

Loi made the suggestion during his working session with CEO of the chamber John Lawson as part of the diplomat’s working trip to Cape Town from February 8-14.

For his part, Lawson said Cape Chamber stands ready to coordinate with the Vietnamese Embassy and Commercial Affairs Office to boost trade and investment ties between the two countries.

The two sides discussed the organisation of a business-to-business (B2B) event for Vietnamese and South African firms operating in such sectors as furniture, agricultural processing and pottery in May.

Statistics from the Vietnamese side show that the bilateral trade reached 1.27 billion USD last year, of which Vietnam’s export revenue to South Africa was 847 million USD, up 24.3 percent year-on-year.

Among items shipped to South Africa, Vietnamese mobile phones, footwear, laptops, pepper and textiles-garments have posted high export values./.