Since Vietnam and the Netherlands officially set up diplomatic ties on April 9 1973, the bilateral relations have seen positive steps, particularly the cooperation on investment and trade. In 2008, the two-way export and import turnover reached US$2 billion.
Holland is also listed among the leading European investors in Vietnam, with investment capitals of up to US$2.6 billion.
According to the Ministry of Investment and Planning’s statistics, by the end of 2008, the Netherlands ranked the 13th position among worldwide nations and territories and the 17th among European countries investing in Vietnam, with a total of registered capitals of US$2.6 billion, including nearly US$1.5 billion disbursed. The figures have brought Holland to the top out of 13 biggest investors in Vietnam about the rate of disbursed/registered capital. Holland’s investment projects mainly focus on fields of oil and gas, energy, construction, chemicals, and foodstuff processing industry, significantly contributing to the technical transferring process to Vietnamese laborers. Many Dutch foreign direct invested enterprises have gained achievements and their brands have become well-known in Vietnam like Philip, Unilever, AkzoNobel, Shell, Heineken, TNT, Dutch Lady, Dalat Hasfarm.
Regarding the export-import, in recent years, apart from traditional commodities, Holland has also imported several more potential items like desks, chairs and medical mattresses. In 2008, Vietnam’s shipment of items to Holland reached EUR74.2 million, accounting for 1.78 percent of the European nation’s total spending for these imports. In addition, the Netherlands is in need of importing other items like glassware, vessels, tools, knives, scissors, spoons and plastics products.
Besides the business cooperation, Holland has also promoted many support programs for Vietnam, including non-refundable aids, mixed credit programs of Miliev and Oret. With the credit programs, the Dutch government currently grants non-refundable aids which make up 35 percent of total value of each contract conducted by Dutch contractors. The remaining 65 percent comes from the Vietnamese side. Before 1998, the Dutch government provided up to 60 percent of total value to Miliev projects and 45 percent to Oret projects.
The credit loans mainly pour into projects involved in water supply, forestry, textile and garment and cattle-feed processing. The projects must not depend on commercial criteria in accordance with the organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s requirements, must be positive to the environment (Miliev) or not be harmful to the environment (Oret). In addition, at least 60 percent of transactions originate from the Dutch government.
Over the past years, the Dutch government’s Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI) has also cooperated with the Vietnamese side to organize training courses in order to raise the skills and marketing knowledge, particularly focusing on improving the export capacity into the EU market, for Vietnamese enterprises, associations and trade promotion organizations. The move has contributed to increase the country’s export turnover to the EU market, including the Dutch market.
During a reception given to Dutch Ambassador to Vietnam Jozef Willem Scheffers on March 26, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung affirmed potentials for the Vietnam-Holland bilateral cooperation are very huge. The Vietnamese leader expressed hope that Holland, which is good at dealing with impacts of the climate change, would share its experiences with Vietnam, particularly in handling with consequences of the sea level rise in Ho Chi Minh City and coastal localities. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade revealed a delegation of Dutch enterprises operating in fields of wastewater treatment technology, environment and water management industry will pay a working visit to Vietnam from May 3-9. The fact-finding trip will be supported financially by the Netherlands’ trade promotion agency and economic ministry. The trip is expected to contribute to tighten further the bilateral cooperation between the two nations.
Thanh Thao
Vietnamese
