Philippines to open Vietnam trade, investment center this year

The Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Vietnam will open in Ho Chi Minh City this year to enhance bilateral economic ties, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.

Marcos made the point during his meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the sidelines of the Asean Summits in Cambodia’s Phnom Penh on Thursday, the Philippine Star reported.

The two leaders agreed to boost the nations’ ties in several areas including trade, investment, agriculture, and defense and maritime security, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) said. Bilateral trade reached $6.8 billion last year, a record high, while that in the first eight months of this year was almost $5.4 billion.

The Vietnamese PM also had separate bilateral meetings with leaders of Cambodia, Laos, and Brunei in Phnom Penh.

In his meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An on Wednesday, the two agreed to enhance cooperation between localities, especially border ones, and promote people-to-people exchange. PM Chinh proposed that Cambodia continue its support for Vietnamese citizens and businesses as well as the Vietnamese-origin community to live and work stably in the neighboring country.

On Thursday, Chinh held talks with his Lao counterpart Phankham Viphavanh. They agreed to continue to effectively realize high-level agreements and outcomes of meetings of the Vietnam-Laos Inter-Governmental Committee as well as cooperation programs between the two neighbors, VNA reported.

On the same day, the Vietnamese PM met with Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. They agreed to soon resume the exchange of high-level and all-level delegations, and promote economic-trade cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges to create momentum for further boosting intensive and extensive cooperation in the coming time.

PM Chinh suggested the two countries continue to promote trade in a more balanced way, and strengthen collaboration in areas such as digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, and climate change response.