Vietnam and Norway have economic, trade and investment relations. Two-way trade represents a year-on-year rise of 13.67 per cent. In the first four months of 2019, trade between Vietnam and Norway was up 14.4 per cent year on year. Vietnam mainly exports garments, textiles, footwear, cashew nut, and wood and timber products while importing aquatic products, machinery, equipment, and other spare parts from Norway. To boost exports to Norway, Vietnam will advise businesses to focus on improving the quality of products and studying the market to address trade and technical barriers as well as meeting strict requirements on the traceability of products, social responsibility, environmental protection, and business ethics. Also planned are meetings with distributors and large-scale supermarkets to set up long-term partnerships and promote the export of Vietnamese goods.

Norway has 42 direct investment projects in Vietnam. Possible areas of cooperation are in the fields of maritime, shipbuilding, aquaculture, renewable energy, and tourism. At present, Norwegian enterprises are particularly interested in cooperation in developing aquaculture and processing aquatic products in Vietnam. They are also interested in oil and gas production projects.

Vietnam’s exports have depended on foreign directed investment enterprises, which account for 70 per cent of total turnover.