Source: VOVNEWS

Senior officials and business representatives from 27 Latin American countries are expected to attend a ministerial forum on Vietnam-Latin America trade and investment, slated for Hanoi on July 5-6.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release on June 1, the event, which will take place at My Dinh National Convention Centre, aims to boost policy-making and discuss bilateral cooperation in trade and investment between Vietnam and Latin America.

It will offer a good opportunity for businesses on both sides to exchange information, seek investment opportunities and sign cooperation agreements.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will lead a delegation of Vietnamese ministers, provincial leaders, mayors and CEOs to the forum, which will focus on strengthening economic ties between Vietnam and Latin America, especially in trade, telecommunications, transportation, agriculture and energy.

A symposium on opportunities and challenges to boosting trade and investment between the two sides will also be held under the chairmanship of Minister of Industry and Trade, Vu Huy Hoang.

Le Cong Tien, deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department for South America, said with a GDP of more than US$5,500 billion and a population of 580 million, Latin America represents great investment opportunities for Vietnamese companies. Their two-way trade turnover reached US$4.5 billion in 2011, 15 times higher than the US$300 million recorded in 2000./.