The forum, scheduled from July 5-6, drew the participation of ministerial and local leaders and representatives from over 200 Latin American and Vietnamese corporations.

With the theme of "Viet Nam-Latin America: Trade and Investment Partners for Development", the forum focuses on three main themes including business investment, transport, logistics, telecommunication and service connectivity, and partnership in agriculture and energy between the two sides.

Vast opportunities

Addressing the event, PM Dung highly spoke of the first forum which is expected to churn out numerous opportunities for the two sides to uphold the traditional ties.

With abundant resources and a population of 570 million, Latin American countries are important economic partners of Vietnam, said PM Dung.

So far, Viet Nam has trade ties with over 30 markets in the Latin America. The two-way trade turnover between Viet Nam and Latin American countries has surged 17 times over the last ten years and hit over US$5 billion in 2011.

Viet Nam chiefly ships footwear, garment and textiles, electronic goods, household utensils, rubber, rice, coffee and coal to the Latin America.

In return,  the Southeast Asian country mainly imports raw materials such as sawn timber, pulp, leather, fish paste, copper, steel and cotton from the Latin American region.

In addition, the Government chief believed that trans-regional cooperation framework like APEC and FEALAC would open up more cooperation chances for more exchanges between two Pacific sides.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has emerged as a promising multilateral mechanism in which Viet Nam and Latin American countries like Chile, Peru and even Mexico are pursuing, he added.

Viet Nam hopes to boost the bilateral cooperation in such fields as petroleum, energy, production of consumption goods, aquaculture and import of raw materials from Latin America.

PM Dung called on Latin American friends to participate in and become an important part in Viet Nam's national development cause. Meanwhile, Viet Nam is ready to join the growth process in Latin America.

The Vietnamese Government chief urged representatives of ministries, agencies, localities and businesses to discuss ways to formulate specific cooperative ideas, mechanisms and policies between the two sides.

On behalf of the Latin American delegations, a Colombian Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade said that this is a good time for Latin American countries and Viet Nam to set up a legal foundation. The forum would help foster mutual understanding and linkages between the two sides.