By Ndubuisi Francis
The Vietnamese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Luong Quoc Thinh, has urged Vietnamese businesses to embrace the newly-registered Nigeria-Vietnam Economic, Trade and Cultural Association (NVETCA), and make it a reliable platform for trade and investment promotions in both countries.
While applauding the birth of the association, the envoy said it would help promote trade and cultural exchanges between both countries.
He spoke at the weekend when the board of trustees of the association, led by Alhaji Sani Bako, Nigeria’s pioneer envoy to Vietnam, paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
He said: “l see the birth of the association as capable of building a practical bridge for entrepreneurs and businesses of the two countries to seek investment opportunities.”
Thinh said he was quite aware of the difficult challenges Nigeria and the sub- region were going through and the complicated challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, promising to collaborate with the association towards achieving a common goal of promoting trade and cultural exchange between Nigeria and Vietnam.
The diplomat, who pledged his assistance to the association in its quest to stimulate trade between his country and Nigeria, also urged Vietnamese businessmen and woman to embrace the association and make it a reliable platform for trade and investment promotions in both countries.
Earlier in his remarks, Bako who was nostalgic about his stay in Vietnam as an envoy between 2007 and 2010, expressed his desire to use the association to encourage comprehensive relations especially in economic diplomacy, trade and cultural exchanges between Nigeria and Vietnam working with the relevant organs of government of both countries.
He said: “The main purpose of the association is to exploit and encourage potential investors of Nigeria and Vietnam through education, advice and problem-solving with the sole aim of promoting bilateral trade and cultural relations between us.”
The association, he said, would from time to time organise trade delegations between the two countries to provide a platform for interactions and education for businessmen and women on opportunities that abound both in Vietnam and Nigeria.
