Deputy Head of the Department Phan Van Ban said the textile industry was one of the largest industries in Viet Nam -- with more than 1.1 million workers -- which achieved an export value of US$23 billion in 2014. The country, however, has to import up to 60 per cent of the input materials because of weak supporting industries, Ban said. The Vietnamese government was making efforts to reform administrative procedures to boost foreign investment in this field, he said.
Australia accounts for 22 per cent of the world's wool production, and up to 90 per cent of the global merino output.
At a recent working session with the industry and trade ministry's local industry department in Sydney, Rajesh Bahl, a representative of the AWGA, said the association also wanted to introduce its wool products to Vietnamese consumers. The association has achieved encouraging results since it entered Viet Nam in June 2012. It has more than 90 partners in many localities of Viet Nam such as Ha Noi and HCM City, he said.
Bahl said the garment and textile sector of Viet Nam had huge potential and several advantages, particularly when the Trans-Pacific Partnership was nearly completion and Viet Nam had signed many free trade agreements.
It is expected that the next meeting between the two parties will be conducted in Hanoi in October, 2015 to exchange information on possibilities of cooperation between the two sides.
