Trade ties between Vietnam and Uruguay have still not been commensurate with the potential of the two countries, delegates heard at the third meeting of the Vietnam - Uruguay Joint Committee for Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation held online recently in Hanoi and Montevideo.

Co-chairing the meeting, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai and Uruguayan Deputy Foreign Minister Nicolás Albertoni emphasised that it is necessary to promote the Vietnam-Uruguay cooperation within bilateral and multilateral frameworks, diversify the structure of import and export products, and step up trade promotion activities, connect and support their business communities to understand the market and find business opportunities.

At the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on cooperation between Vietnam and Uruguay in the fields of economy, trade, investment, finance, agriculture, science, and technology, and reviewed the results they achieved since the second meeting of the joint committee held in October 2021.

They also discussed and proposed affairs to do in the coming time to promote the bilateral cooperation.

For agricultural cooperation, the two sides welcomed the establishment of direct contacts to continue exchanging views on technical issues in the licensing process for potential agricultural products into each other's markets.

In addition, many new cooperation contents have been proposed such as cooperation in food safety, customs, science and technology, software, wood exploitation, and processing.

At the end of the meeting, the two deputy ministers agreed to continue working closely to effectively implement the contents agreed at the meeting towards the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In 2022, the total import-export turnover between the two countries reached US$190.5 million, a sharp increase of 106.5 % compared to 2021. Vietnam's exports to Uruguay raked in US$102.9 million, up 76.7% while Vietnam's imports from Uruguay hit US$87.6 million, up 157.2%.

VNA