Vietnam is one of Argentina’s important partners in Asia-Pacific and the ties will be developed further, Argentinean President Alberto Fernandez said as he received new Vietnamese ambassador Duong Quoc Thanh who presented the credentials to Buenos Aires on March 2.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina Duong Quoc Thanh (left) and Argentinean President Alberto Fernandez on March 2. Photo: Vietnam News Agency

He also hailed Vietnam for its Covid-19 success story.

The ambassador said he will make efforts to boost the bilateral relations, which reflect cooperation in politics, economy, culture, and science and technology.

The bilateral relations, which were set up in 1973, was upgraded to comprehensive partnership in 2010.

The two countries have focused on trade ties with the establishment of the Argentina-Vietnam Intergovernmental Committee on Economy and Trade in 2012.

The two-way trade rose to nearly US$3.5 billion in 2019 from US$918 million in 2010.

Argentina is Vietnam’s second largest trade partner in the Latin America and Vietnam is the fifth biggest buyer of Argentina goods.

Within this context, they committed to foster the incorporation of higher value-added products, as well as strengthening cooperation between phytosanitary and zoosanitary control agencies on market access matters, in addition to maintaining cooperation and technical assistance actions. Along those lines, Argentina expresses a strong interest in working together with Vietnam on Agricultural Biotechnology.

Julia Perie, an Argentine parliamentarian at the Mercosur Parliament (Parlasur), said that agricultural products account for nearly 90% of Argentinean exports to ASEAN, so the nation prioritizes creating added value for those items, along with expanding cooperation in other spheres such as leather industry, pharmaceutical products and plastics.

Sebastián Molas, Undersecretary of Institutional and Government Relations of the Cabinet of Ministers, said Argentina will seek to enhance trade with ASEAN in the post-Covid-19 and Vietnam is one of key partners in the region.