The Vietnamese booth at the exhibition, jointly organised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) Trade Promotion Agency, the Vietnam Trade Office in Berlin and the Vietnam Fruit Association (Vinafruit), attracted a large number of visitors right in the first day of the event.
This is the third year that Vietnam has joined the exhibition. On February 8, a trade exchange was held between the Vietnamese enterprises with members of Germany’s Federal Association of Medium-Sized Enterprises (BVMW), German firms and Vietnamese companies in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
Highlighting the increasing competitiveness of Vietnamese products’ competitiveness, Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Vu Quang Minh said he hopes the firms will optimise preferential tax rates from free trade agreements to boost exports of fruits and vegetables in the promising German market.
He pledged that the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnam Trade Office will give best support to Vietnamese firms in connecting with their peers in Germany to strengthen exports to Germany and the EU in general, thus optimising the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
Meanwhile, Vinafruit Chairman Nguyen Thanh Binh said that the exhibition is a great chance for Vietnamese firms to expand their market. Data from the MoIT showed that after the EVFTA took effect, Vietnam’s exports of fruits to Europe has risen 25-30%.
Tran Van Cong, Vietnamese Trade Councillor in Germany said that the EU has been an important and promising market with annual consumption of over 110 billion USD worth of goods.
However, Vietnam’s fruit export revenue from the market is still modest at over 200 million USD, accounting for only 0.02% of the EU’s spending on the product.
Underlining that the EVFTA, which brings import tax of Vietnamese fruits to 0%, is offering great opportunities for Vietnam in the EU, he noted that last year, exports of fruits to the EU rose nearly 14%. Cong advised domestic firms to focus on developing farming areas as well as preservation stage, ensuring that Vietnamese products are origin traceable, meeting requirements of the EU.
At the event, the Vinafruit and BVMW signed a memorandum of understanding on supporting businesses of both sides to strengthen cooperation in fruit export and distribution in the German market.
