he Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s Department for South West Asia and Africa Markets Deputy Head Pham Trung Nghia made the remarks while addressing a seminar on opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese exports to these lucrative markets held in HCM City on June 12.

He revealed that the African market has enormous demand for machinery, production equipment, and consumer goods, while the Middle East wants to import products such as food stuff and farm produce.

In recent years, these markets have seen strong economic growth due to a large export turnover from oil, gas, and valuable minerals, Nghia said, adding that they are leading the world in improvements in the business environment and foreign investment attraction through incentive policies and new cooperation models.

At present, the Middle East and Africa hold advantages in labour force, input materials for production, agricultural products, and tourism, he noted.

Businesses operating in these markets said that Vietnamese goods are gradually affirming their trademarks and grasping large market shares.

However, they said, local exporters should pay attention to the use of visa and Hala certificates when they move from Israel to Arabia. If Vietnamese businesses want to enter the Arabian market, their products must have labels in Arabic.

Recent statistics showed that Vietnam’s exports to Africa enjoyed a 14.1 increase in the first four months of this year, mostly to South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, and Ghana. Major exports included computers, electronics and components, footwear, and construction materials.