Vu Ba Phu, director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade), addresses the event (Photo: thanhtra.com.vn)

The purpose of the event is to help both Vietnamese and Nigerian firms gain greater insights into each side’s needs and capacities, with the aim of signing business contracts and boosting the two-way trade turnover between both countries.

At present, the Vietnamese textile and garment sector ranks among the world’s three largest exporters, behind only China and India, while the leather shoe sector is also listed among the world’s leading exporters.

Following the successful containment of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, an improved investment environment, and the signing of FTAs, including the recently implemented the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the fashion sector has attracted foreign capital flows from developed economies, such as Japan, the Republic of Korea, Italy, and Germany.

These moves have therefore contributed to expanding production scale, innovating technology, improving product design, and supplying greater capacity to the international market.

Muda Yusuf, director general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, emphasized that there remains plenty of room for additional trade co-operation between both sides, adding that Nigeria has serves as a bridge to bring Vietnamese goods to several African nations.

In response, Vietnamese Ambassador to Nigeria Luong Quoc Thinh said that with a number of spearhead economic sectors, local enterprises businesses are ready to co-operate alongside businesses from across the world, including Nigeria.