The information was given at a meeting between Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Quoc Tri and Argentine delegation led by Ms. Diana Mondino - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Religious Affairs of Argentina, which took place on March 20, in Hanoi.
Two-way trade between Vietnam and Argentina in a period of 2007 - 2022 increased nearly 13 times, from 378 million USD to 4.88 billion USD, making Argentina the third largest partner of Vietnam in Latin America (after Brazil and Mexico). Vietnam is an Argentina's largest trading partner in Southeast Asia and 6th globally.
In 2023 alone, bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and Argentina decreased by 29.6% compared to 2022, reaching only 3.45 billion USD due to Argentina experiencing a historic drought in 2022-2023 crop season, causing production to decline. Agricultural output decreased by 54%. Bilateral agricultural, forestry and fishery trade in the last 5 years has remained at 3.08 - 3.8 billion USD (except for 2023, decreasing to 2.35 billion USD, corresponding to a decrease of 38.5% compared to 2022).
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tri - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development highly appreciated bilateral relationship between Vietnam and Argentina which is having positive developments in many fields, including trade (mainly trade in agriculture, forestry and fisheries). It is an important content that makes the two countries become major partners of each other.
“Vietnam appreciates Argentina's role and position as a member and gateway for Vietnam to have favorable access to the South American common market (Mercosur). Therefore, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is always an active member participating in the Intergovernmental Committee mechanism on economic, trade and science and technology cooperation between Vietnam and Argentina", Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tri share.
Regarding Argentine delegation, Ms. Diana Mondino - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Religion - said that in recent years, the two sides have worked actively and opened the market for many products. Since 2017, two sides have made preparations related to the terms of free trade agreement between Vietnam and Mercosur bloc. Accordingly, Argentine Government wants to promote negotiations.
In addition to negotiating agreements, Ms. Diana Mondino said that continuing to open the two countries' markets is also an important content.
Ms. Diana Mondino raised issue that Argentine products exported to Vietnam such as leather products, tanning products, corn... have been used to enter production chain and re-exported to other countries to create commercial value for Vietnam.
Two economies of Vietnam and Argentina are mutually supportive, creating conditions for the two sides to exploit potential for cooperation for more products. Therefore, it is necessary to consider overall trade balance of the two countries.
Also according to Ms. Diana Mondino, Argentine authorities have sent proposals to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on exporting pork and pig organs from Argentina. Ms. Diana Mondino is committed to provide to Vietnam good quality meat at an affordable price and hopes that Vietnamese side will soon consider and respond.
Regarding this, Deputy Minister Nguyen Quoc Tri informed that in the field of agriculture and rural development, Vietnam not only attaches importance to production but also pays attention to trade and identifies this as driving force for development of the country.
With your request to open the market for more products, leaders of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development noted and proposed that Argentina, in opposite direction, also open the door to possible Vietnamese products accessing this country's market.
The leader of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said they would assign specialized agencies to handle specific proposals from Argentina and vice versa and requested that their side also consider proposals from Vietnam soon.
“Vietnam attaches great importance to agricultural cooperation with Argentina, especially trade in agricultural products and science and technology. Agricultural trade needs measures to gradually balance trade deficit. The leader of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development call on two sides to coordinate closely to implement cooperation according to specialized contents and issues, complying with regulations of both sides and international practices", Deputy Minister Nguyen Quoc Tri added.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn