ASEAN will continuously be the target of Vietnam’s external policy in the coming time as Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is to make a trip to Indonesia, the Philippine, Singapore, Myanmar, and Brunei from August 8-16, the first trip abroad since he was re-elected, state media said.
The visit will strengthen traditional friendship and deepen multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and other ASEAN member countries, the local media said.
Dung and his wife are slated to visit Indonesia and the Philippines from August 8-10 and tour Singapore, Myanmar and Brunei from August 13-16.
ASEAN countries, excluding Myanmar, have had 976 valid projects in Vietnam as of July 22 this year, accounting for 12.6 per cent of the total FDI project into Vietnam; the local media quoted the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning & Investment as saying.
The total registered capital is US$13.44 billion and disbursed capital reached over US$6.26 billion, representing 19 per cent and 20.2 per cent of the country’s FDI figure, respectively.
Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are big investors among ASEAN countries investing into Vietnam, with many effective projects in the areas of oil and gas, hotel and tourism, and construction.
In the first seven months of 2007, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines have invested over US$1.7 billion into 90 projects in Vietnam, accounting for over 32 per cent of the total FDI into Vietnam. Big projects included the US$220-million Kraf paper plant of Thailand and the US$165-million Cai Mep port project of Singapore.
The two-way trade between Vietnam and ASEAN bloc rose from US$3.49 billion in 1995 to US$18.9 billion in 2006, according to the GSO. However, Vietnam’s trade deficit with these countries climbed to US$6.18 billion in 2006 from US$2.26 billion in 2002. Vietnam often imports goods from ASEAN via Singapore due to low capacity of Vietnamese ships.
ASEAN now accounts for nearly 35 per cent of Vietnam’s total import turnover and 16 per cent of the total export market share.
In the first seven months of this year, Vietnam welcomed more than 395,500 tourists from ASEAN, accounting for over 16 per cent of the total international tourist to the country. The number of Thai and Singaporean tourists to Vietnam rose sharply. (Investment)
Vietnamese
