Vietnamese and Swiss businesses July 18 gathered at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City, seeking methods to increase exports from the Southeast Asian country to one of Europe 's major financial gateways.
The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the Swiss Chamber of Commerce and the Swiss Import Promotion Program (SIPPO) jointly held the gathering, which was heated during a visit to Vietnam by Swiss Minister of Economics Doris Leuthard.
Addressing at the seminar, Leuthard said that Switzerland is an open market but Swiss people are choosy consumers, advising Vietnamese exporters to ship high-quality products to the European country.
The Swiss side also pledged to help enhance training capacity for Vietnamese exporters.
The bilateral economic ties between the two countries have grown strongly over the past five years, with two-way trade reaching US$1.5 billion in 2006. However, domestic experts are concerned over a widening trade deficit as Vietnam imported goods worth over US$1.34 billion from Switzerland but exports capitalized at only US$155 million last year.
Leading companies in Switzerland highly appreciate the potential and investment environment in Vietnam, and desire to seek investment opportunities in the country, especially in electrical generation and cement production, Swiss Minister of Economics Doris Leuthard said at the meeting with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on July 16.
To date, Swiss companies have invested in 42 projects with registered capital of US$718.5 million in Vietnam. Switzerland is the fifth largest EU investor in Vietnam and the 17th among more than 70 countries and territories investing in the country. Not only being the major investor of Vietnam, Switzerland is actively helping Vietnam in the restructuring process with bilateral and multilateral cooperation. Switzerland provided US$150 million ODA capital for Vietnam so far. At the reception of Madam Doris Leuthard, the Vietnamese Prime Minister wished the Government of Switzerland would continue sponsoring ODA capital to Vietnam, especially in education and training. The Vietnamese Government pledged to continue perfecting its legal system to facilitate foreign investors and Swiss investors in particular to do business in Vietnam.
For her part, Ms Leathard expressed her delight when she visited Vietnam, to see the beautiful, dynamic and growing country. “We saw Vietnamese organs initiating and carrying out reform to bring Vietnam into a market economy,” Ms Leathard said at the signing ceremony “Improving the capacity of Vietnamese competition management agencies” at the headquarters of the Ministry of Trade.
In the past 20 years, Vietnam has seen strong development and significant change. In spite of difficulties, Vietnam has proven that it is a dynamic country. During her visit to Vietnam, she said many leading Swiss enterprises are seeking investment opportunities in Vietnam, especially in electrical generation, cement production and human resource training for the finance and banking sector.
Vietnam and Switzerland signed many commitments during her visit to Vietnam, under which Switzerland pledged to help Vietnam in several fields such as water resource management, intellectual property rights protection and assistance for Vietnam after WTO entry. Swiss companies also pledged long term investment in Vietnam, especially in finance, machine manufacturing, services and processing.
Thu Huyen
Vietnamese
