VIETNAM-NIGERIAN BILATERAL TRADE RELATIONS HIGHLIGHTS SERIES (1)

Vietnam - Nigeria Investment and Business Cooperation Opportunities
Nearly 60 representatives of leading Nigerian organisations and businesses and many Vietnamese enterprises witnessed the signing ceremony of cooperation agreement between the VCCI and Nigeria - Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NVCCI) at the Forum of Vietnam - Nigeria Investment and Business. The Forum is held by the VCCI in cooperation with Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission – NIPC and NVCCI on October 22 in Hanoi.

Wishing to boost cooperation
Prince Oye Akisemoyin, NCCI Chairman, said the Nigerian delegation to Vietnam this time included governmental officials of the Federation of Nigeria, some state Governors, and big economic groups, associations and corporations that are leading Nigerian businesses specialising in petroleum, energy, electricity, electronics, rice, agricultural produce, pharmaceuticals, finance, banking, coal, telecommunication, shipping, transportation, construction, machinery, general import and export, etc.

“We wish to boost investment and trade cooperation with Vietnamese enterprises. At present, there are few Vietnamese enterprises choosing Nigeria their destination for doing business. Therefore, the two countries should push up the relationship further”, said Adesoji Adesugba, Director of NIPC.

He added, many countries currently considered Nigeria as their appealing investment destination, many of them coming from Asia. "In 2001, China invested around USD1 billion in Nigeria. In the first six months of 2008, China has poured another investment of USD3 billion in Nigeria. We hope that we will attract a total amount of USD5 billion from China this year”, he provided an evidence.

Engr.Mustafa Bello, Secretary General of NIPC, said Nigerian businesses cared about Vietnam's assembly line and technology of processing cashew nuts and highly appreciated qualification of Vietnamese experts in agriculture and electronics.

In particular, Nigeria has a huge demand for rice, which is strength of Vietnam. According to H.E. Mr.Sani Bako, Chargé d'affaires, Nigerian Embassy in Hanoi, Nigeria has to import around 1.5 - 1.7 million tonnes of rice every year. Nigeria's Government has removed all tariff and fees of rice import in order to cool down its food crisis. Accordingly, rice imported into Nigeria will not pay all tariffs and fees since May 7, 2008. "This is a big chance for Vietnam's rice exporters", emphasised H.E.Mr.Sani Bako.

It is also known that under the framework of the Programme of Strengthening trade exchange among members of Central African Economic and Monetary Community, West Africa and members of Mekong River Sub-region, by the end of November, the VCCI will cooperate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Vietnam Food Association to hold the Meeting of Rice Sellers and Buyers in Hochiminh city aimed at establishing a direct food exchange channel with 14 Western and Central African countries.

Bilateral trade turnover grows
Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the VCCI, evaluated that Vietnam and Nigeria had good traditional relationship. The two countries had mutually exchanged high-rank official delegations. In 2001, the two countries signed the Trade Agreement, which included the MFN article to establish favourable legal corridor for bilateral business operations. At present, bilateral cooperation frameworks continue to be perfected.

Vietnam has exported to Nigeria since 1995 and started to import from Nigeria since 1998. The two-way import and export turnover has increased constantly, where Vietnam's trade balance is usually surplus. As from statistics of General Customs Office, Vietnam exported roughly USD33 million to and imported nearly USD22 million from Nigeria in 2007. In the first six months of 2008, Vietnam exported USD20.5 million to and imported USD26 million from Nigeria.

“Being one of the largest markets in Africa, Nigeria has a demand for a lot of commodities every year, many of them are strength of Vietnam", said Mr Loc. Main articles exported from Vietnam to Nigeria include textile and garment, computers, electronic products and components, medicine, plastic ware, auto and motorbike components and spare-parts. Vietnam mainly import such articles from Nigeria as raw cashew nuts, cotton, timber, plastic, raw materials, fertilisers, of which raw cashew nuts occupies 83 per cent of total import value from Nigeria (in 2007). Nigeria is at present the largest supplier of cashew nut for Vietnam.

Mr Loc said, the construction of Vietnam - Africa Portal as well as cooperation to establish the NVCCI would be a model to develop a relationship with African countries. Simultaneously, enterprises in the two countries would have good chances to tighten trade and investment relations.

However, Mr Le Duong Quang, Deputy Industry and Trade Minister, pointed out that achievements did not match potentials of the two countries. The main reason is the lack of information and cross-learning between the two business communities, limited commercial promotion.

Mr Quang suggested that the two countries should strengthen exchanging delegations of high rank, ministerial level and branch level, and business delegations as well as tightening cooperation relationship between functional ministries and branches, associations, chambers of commerce and industry in two countries in order to solve problems and utilise big potentials. “The two partners need also to boost exchanging information related to policies, trade and investment, commercial, investment, and tourism promotion activities, list of exhibitions and trade fairs in each country, list of import and export that each partner has comparative advantages. In particular, direct business delegation visits are the most useful information channel to fully exploit”, said Mr Quang.
Lan Anh