Nearly 100 Vietnamese and Chilean businesses attended the forum, including Vietnamese businesses involving in garments and textiles, leather shoes, tea and food, construction materials, motorbike assembly, gold and silver item production, petroleum and gas, real estate and pharmacy.

This is the third Vietnamese delegation to visit Chile for trade promotion over the past two years.

Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan, who is in Santiago to attend the 19th Global Women Summit, attended the opening ceremony of the forum.

Addressing the forum, Doan stressed that in the process of industrialisation and international integration, the State of Vietnam welcomes and creates favourable conditions for foreign investors, including Chilean, to make profit in Vietnam.

She said coming to Vietnam, Chilean businesses would have opportunities to cooperate with other members of the dynamic region of ASEAN, and that through Chile, Vietnam could export goods to other Latin American countries.

SOFOFA President Bruno Philippi, stressed the need to enhance the partnership for mutual benefit between businesses of the two countries at a time when the global economic crisis has affected bilateral trade over the recent past. He said it is necessary to step up governmental talks for signing of a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) to facilitate the exchange of goods, services and promote investment cooperation between the two countries.

According to Chile’s export promotion agency (ProChile), Vietnam’s export value to Chile last year reached 80.638 million USD, a 46.37 percent increase over the previous year. Meanwhile, Chile fetched 96.741 million USD from exports to Vietnam. Last year, two-way trade value increased 9 percent compared to the previous year.