Vietnam Pledges Incentives for Belgian Investors: PM

Vietnam will boost the cooperation with Belgium in all aspects and will give more favorable conditions to Belgium’s investors to do long-term business in the Asean country, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told a Belgian diplomat June 12 in Hanoi.

 

Speaking with Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, who is on a two-day visit to Vietnam, Dung said he hoped the Belgian government to support Vietnam in negotiations to sign an investment cooperation deal with the European Union.

 

Minister De Gucht said he was impressed with Vietnam’s socioeconomic achievements, essentially in hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

 

Mr Gucht assured many Belgian firms are keen on investing in Vietnam and keeping their eye to fields of healthcare and posts and telecommunication.   

 

Late on the same day, the Belgian minister held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Gia Khiem to discuss ways to enhance bilateral ties in addition to possibilities for tripartite cooperation with African countries and regional and international issues of mutual concern.  

The Vietnamese FM wished that Belgium would continue to implement its official development assistance program tailored for Vietnam and support the country’s bids to win the anti-dumping battle for its leather shoes in European markets, and obtain the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and market economy status.

 

Vietnam and Belgium established diplomatic relations in 1973.

 

The two-way trade value significantly amounted to US$1 billion last year.

 

Belgium pledged EUR32 million aid (US$45.2 million) for Vietnam from 2007 to 2010 in a move to boost the bilateral cooperation expansion. (VNS, Website of CPV)