The Vietnamese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Bui Quoc Hung, on Wednesday met with business communities in Abia State, to explore collaboration between the state and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The state and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam are seeking collaboration in agriculture, textiles and garments, manufacturing and electronics, among others.
Speaking at the business meetings with the Umuahia and Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture on Wednesday, Hung said Vietnam and Nigeria had many things in common.
He pointed out that he engaged the business community to identify areas of collaboration for mutual benefits and stressed the commitment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to fostering a strong bilateral relationship with Abia State.
“We have discussed some strong development areas like agriculture, manufacturing, textiles and garments, seafood and electronics.
“We focused much on agriculture, textiles and food production in Nigeria.
“We think that we can work together to increase productivity, quality, quantity and the value chains,” Hung said.
He appreciated the willingness of Governor Alex Otti to partner with the country in various areas of the economy for development and extended an invitation to the Abia business communities to seize the opportunity of the relationship to visit Vietnam during business expos and exhibitions.
The Commissioner for Trade and Commerce, Mr Kingsley Nwokocha, said he saw a future in the collaboration between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Abia State.
The Commissioner for Industry and SMEs, Mr Mike Akpara, asked the visiting envoy to attract Vietnamese investors to bring back the Moribund Aba Textile Mill.
This, he said, would help the investors to take advantage of the ready textile markets in the state which services the entire Nigeria and West Africa Sub-region.
The President of Umuahia Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture and his Aba Chamber of Commerce counterpart said they considered how best to market Abia to the world by exploring the available investment opportunities they could tap from Vietnam.
They said that the delegation had interacted with the business community in the state and had identified agriculture, manufacturing, textiles, cashew nuts and other areas for collaboration.
The Vietnamese delegation visited Gulden Guinea Brewery, Umuahia; Saclux Paint Industry, Umuahia; Cashew plantation at Umunneochi; the Moribund Aba Textile Mill, Aba and the Ekeoha Textile Market Clusters, Aba, among other places.
