Vietnam - Norway: Many Business Cooperation Opportunities

 

The purpose of this seminar is to promote trade and green investment through partnership and exploring business potentials that can be exploited through commercial and green investment activities. The seminar also provides businesses with opportunities to learn more about the Green Growth Strategy and its action plan, which is about to be issued.

 

On the sidelines of the seminar, Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Ms Vibeke Hammer Madsen, CEO of Virke Enterprise Federation of Norway.

 

I think there are a lot of good business opportunities in Vietnam for Norwegian businesses.

 

Virke was here 10 years ago on a state visit with the Norwegian king and queen, and since then imports from Vietnam have had big growth. It almost tripled, and last year we imported goods worth more than 2.3 billion Norwegian kroner (NOK). I’m sure it will keep on increasing, especially if Vietnam and EFTA can agree on a free trade agreement.

 

Here in Vietnam I see a lot of opportunities. Trade is a powerful tool for change, and in seminar will we look into some of the opportunities.

Since I visited Vietnam ten years ago, the trade has tripled. And the import of goods from Vietnam to Norway is the largest contributor. And I believe the opportunities will grow, simply because the trade between Norway and Vietnam is already on a good path. Responsible and sustainable business is important. Focus on decent work conditions is a cornerstone in all businesses, and a prerequisite for our relationship.

 

As CEO of Virke, the Enterprise Federation of Norway, my role is to work for the relations between Vietnamese and Norwegian businesses. We have been working with you for a long time, and will continue to promote Vietnam towards Norwegian businesses.

 

We have a broad perspective, both trade and services. These days we focus on trade and IT-services.

 

For us it’s important to share competencies to add value between companies and nations. I believe in knowledge sharing to build the future.

 

Decent work and responsible business strategy are a prerequisite for our relations to grow. To ensure sustainable development for future generations across the globe there is great need for economic growth – but with less environmental impact. This challenges our production and consumption, and concerns in great deal the trade-and service sector that internationally accounts for about 30 percent of green house gas emissions.

 

Virke believes the path towards a sustainable world goes through making all production and consumption of goods and services more environmentally friendly. At the same time, the development of green jobs leads to innovation and new growth in investments and employment. Green growth is the only viable solution.

 

The initiatives made by the Government of Vietnam to ensure greener growth show leadership in this area. Hopefully, this can also inspire the Norwegian government when they are developing a strategy for green growth. Virke wants to underline the importance of including all business sectors in this work.

 

After Vietnam became a WTO country, Norwegian businesses regard Vietnam as a business partner of increasing interest. This can be observed in the statistics as the bilateral trade has more than doubled over the last five years. With a FTA the opportunities will be even better. Based on Norwegian experience from other FTAs, Norway expects import from Vietnam to increase by 10 percent yearly once the FTA enters into force.

 

Norway sees high potential in particular sectors such as energy, aquaculture, fish processing and maritime transport. The larger the investments, the more intensely long-term legal certainty, as provided by an FTA, are appreciated by the investors.

 

The long-term view plays a key role in investment decisions. By their nature, investments tend to be long-term and may require a comprehensive set of agreements creating a predictable business framework. During the early phases of new business activity in a host country, and before the economic benefits of the investments become apparent, projects are often exposed to political risks. In this context, bilateral investment treaties (BITs) can offer an additional safety net, providing protection throughout the life of the project. The conclusion of trade agreements through EFTA ought therefore to be followed up by further work on the promotion and protection of investments.

 

As an importer and owner of a chain of stores we are not in Vietnam primary to invest in a financial term. We are here to find new partners/suppliers that can supply us with goods that make us more competitive in the Norwegian market. On that note, we are willing to invest our time and resources with Vietnamese partners. We believe that Vietnam can be a vital source for good, quality good in years to come.

 

We have learned through our experience with Vietnamese partners that the important combination of good prices and good quality is possible. We think that your willingness to think about sustainability and green trade in general is an important factor that makes us do more business in Vietnam.

 

We are actively looking for more business partners in Vietnam, especial home textiles sector such as: Primarily; towels, ready-made curtains, bed sets and pillows and duvets.

 

Not really, we have almost 60 years experience in our industry. The last 30 years we have been travelling all over the world (mostly Asia/south-east Asia) to purchase goods. Hopefully, Vietnamese companies’ willingness to think about sustainability and green trade will give them a competitive edge versus other countries in this region.

 

What we find especially positive is the possibilities of an open arena to discuss business. During only 1 week we were able to meet 4 important government departments/Ministries and 10 local ICT companies. The people we met has been highly competent, which makes them capable of quickly identifying links on business potential on transition to local market. This is a very important factor for our company’s decision to invest in Vietnam. Highly qualified ICT resources have the resources to start new projects right away and quickly implementing new technology. The access to highly qualified professionals will contribute to sustain the innovation motor in our company.

 

More is currently discussing with Vietnamese government (VECITA) and a local ICT company (Harmony Soft) to conduct an Industrial Research and Development project to see how our solutions can fit the Vietnamese market. In a long term perspective it is our objective to train and enable our local ICT partner to sell our products in Vietnam’s fast growing e-Government projects. As a part of this strategy we will also look in to the possibilities of outsourcing some of the product development to Vietnam.

 

In international collaboration there will always be challenges due to cultural differences, and Vietnam is no exception. However, More’s strategy for entering the Vietnamese market is to sell through a local partner. This will assure to attain the best competence on local market, and experience on developing services with Vietnamese government. This will hopefully also manage and avoid some market risks, as local vendors generally possess specific industry knowledge (especially when it comes to security and compliance issues).