HCM City (VNA) - Vietnam and the US have huge potential to boost cooperation in trade and supply chains after COVID-19 is brought under control, which opens up many opportunities for Vietnamese firms to increase exports to this major market.

Director of the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City (ITPC) Nguyen Huu Tin said Vietnam and the US have enjoyed impressive strides forward in economic cooperative ties, with the US being Vietnam’s largest export market and Vietnam being the US’s 6th-largest importer.

According to Tin, Vietnam has affirmed its position as an important trade partner of the world’s largest economy.

Thanks to the good control of COVID-19 in Vietnam, Vietnamese firms have a huge advantage over foreign rivals struggling to fight the pandemic, he said, while suggesting that improving business and production capacity and capitalising on the US market will provide opportunities for Vietnam’s economy to develop further in the time to come.

In the first quarter of this year, two-way trade between the two countries topped 25.9 billion USD, up 33.5 percent year-on-year, with Vietnam’s exports estimated at 22.2 billion USD.

The two governments and business communities have made efforts in the past to bolster cooperation in a practical fashion and based on the complementary nature of the two economies.

Experts said the US’s demand for high-quality Vietnamese products has been increasing due to changes in the global supply chain, and US firms sees Vietnam as a potential, safe investment destination post-pandemic.

They noted the complementary nature of the two economies, with Vietnam having good production capacity in the fields of agriculture, seafood, and wood processing, among others, while the US is the world’s leading materials supplier and has the strongest purchasing power.

However, they advised Vietnamese firms to select suitable measures to effectively access the US market, and strictly follow quality requirements of the US./.