At the exchange between Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and Minister Mary Ng, in charge of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development of Canada on the sidelines of the Council of Nations meeting CPTPP in Auckland, New Zealand, both sides affirmed that after 50 years, the relationship between the two countries has developed extremely well, dynamically and effectively, achieving many great achievements in all fields and today. going deeper, with an emphasis on economic and trade cooperation, especially since the two countries established FTA relations through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in 2018.

However, negative developments in the global economy are significantly affecting economies around the world, including Vietnam and Canada. According to the latest statistics of Vietnam Customs, trade exchange in the first 6 months of 2023 between Vietnam and Canada decreased by 14.7% compared to the same period in 2022.

Therefore, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien proposed that the two sides need to make more efforts in finding new directions, solutions to overcome difficulties, and support and create conditions for the business communities of both sides to access and exploit. each other's markets. The successful establishment and organization of the first meeting of the Vietnam - Canada Economic Committee in 2022 in Vancouver is considered by the Minister to be an important step forward in economic, trade and investment relations between the two countries, therefore the two Parties need to continue to effectively exploit this important cooperation mechanism, along with increasing utilization of the CPTPP Agreement.

Agreeing with Minister Nguyen Hong Dien's comments, Minister Mary Ng affirmed that Canada always values and wishes to promote further cooperation with Vietnam in economic, trade and investment relations. Canada has announced its Indo-Pacific Strategy with 5 pillars, of which Economy - Trade is an important pillar. The ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement has also been launched and gone through rounds of negotiations with positive results thanks to the efforts of the parties. Minister Mary Ng hopes that Vietnam, currently Canada's number one trading partner among ASEAN countries, will be a positive bridge for Canada with the region.

The two sides agreed that in the coming time they will further strengthen cooperation with specific projects and action programs to promote economic, trade and investment cooperation, especially in the field of energy conversion. quality and fundamental industries to bring practical benefits to the business communities of the two countries.

Minh Toan