Vietnam, Spain foster maritime trade
PSNews - The Port Authority of Barcelona in collaboration with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) held a conference named "Trade promotion with Barcelona", with the aim of connecting between Vietnamese firms and Spanish enterprises, especially those from the autonomous community of Catalonia.
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| Deputy Minister of Tranport Nguyen Van Cong chairs the conference. |
Delivering the opening speech, Deputy Minister of Tranport Nguyen Van Cong said, Barcelona Port occupies 40% of the total foreign trade between Spain and Vietnam in terms of goods value. In 2017, the two-way trade between Barcelona and Vietnamese ports increased 19%. Therefore, the conference is considered a good opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to meet directly, and look for import-export partners as well as distributors from Catalonia.
During the conference, delegates focused on introducing new business opportunities, fostering cooperation in shipping, consultancy, logistics, trade and import-export between enterprises of the two countries, especially enteprises of Catalonia.
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| Delegates at the conferencce. |
Regarding the strengths of Barcelona Port, Mercè Conesa, President of the Barcelona Port Authority said the port now gathers in 500 enterprises, generating a value of € 3,5 billion, equivalent to 1.7% of the gross domestic product of Spain. The Port of Barcelona has a total of about 3,600 hectares for logistics services, transportation and five major piers. 35% of the imports into Spain are from Asia and 43% of the country’s exports come from the Port of Barcelona.
In 2017, Vietnamese exports valued at about €490 million reached this port while the volume of Spanish exports worth only €117 million departed the port for Vietnam. Therefore, Barcelona would like to enhance cooperation with Vietnamese businesses, especially in the field of logistics, for further development.
According to Hoang Quang Phong, Vice President of VCCI, the Spanish enterprises are increasingly interested in business opportunities in Vietnam. Spanish investors have much experience in renewable energy, infrastructure, tourism, high technology, construction and architecture. The two-way trade increased 15% per year, reaching more than $ 3 billion in 2017. The two sides set a target to raise trade to $ 5 billion by 2020.
However, the bilateral trade cooperation has not fully tapped potentials of the two countries. Therefore, Vietnam is ready to welcome Barcelona businesses to the Vietnamese market.
This was the 20th trade promotion conference organized by the Barcelona Port Authority in various countries as its target markets. Following the success of the event in Hanoi, the "Trade Promotion with Barcelona" conference will be held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 14 at Sheraton Saigon Hotel.
