Cooperative relations between Vietnam and Austria in general, between Vienna and Hanoi in particular, will continue to be strengthened and expanded, especially in the fields of education, healthcare and environment related fields. That is the confirmation of Austrian Senator Walter Nettig with Vietnam Business Forum in his recent visit to Vietnam.
How do you assess the relations between Austria and Vietnam in general and the city of Vienna and Hanoi in particular now?
Austrian-Vietnamese relations are developing dynamically in a number of fields, among them business, university relations and culture. In the business field, bilateral trade doubled between 2004 and 2008, reaching a volume of US$450 million in 2008. After a dip in 2009, due to the global economic crisis, figures are up again in the first half of 2010. A number of important Austrian business projects in Vietnam have been financed by the Austrian state through ODA soft loans. The volume of soft loan projects which have been completed since 2002 has attained US$140 million. These projects are implemented in fields such as health care, railway infrastructure, fire fighting and vocational training.
University cooperation is another important field. One of the most important players on the Austrian side here is the International Management Center (IMC) in Krems in the federal state of Lower Austria. The IMC offers course modules in Business Administration, Tourism Management and Biotechnology to students of the Hanoi University of Commerce and the University of Hue. The bilateral ties in university education are clearly future-oriented and can be developed further.
As for economic relations between Vienna and Hanoi, it is important to note that a large number of Austrian companies committed in Vietnam, and especially in soft loan projects are from Vienna, and that a large number of the projects implemented are in the Hanoi area, for instance in the healthcare field.
It is also the content of your recent discussion with VCCI leaders. Could you please tell what are achieved and how to further develop bilateral business relations?
With VCCI Vice President Doan Duy Khuong, we spoke at length about the efforts of the VCCI, and of its Austrian counterpart, the Austrian Economic Chamber, regarding education and training. The role of the Austrian Economic Chamber as regards education and training is a very important one. The Chamber has its own training institute which offers 31.400 training courses and seminars a year in all relevant fields of business. It also has a very prestigious tourism school where over 600 students from all over the world are trained every year.
In the economic field, Vietnamese companies and public authorities express special interest in the services of Austrian companies in environment-related areas, such as sustainable energy, waste treatment and water management.
As for further developing business and trade relations, it is important that our business representatives get to know each other, and the Austrian and Vietnamese markets respectively, better. Visits of business delegations can contribute a lot to mutual understanding. On the occasion of the last meeting of the Joint Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation between Austria and Vietnam which took place in Hanoi, a delegation of 16 Austrian companies accompanied the official Austrian delegation. At the next meeting of the working group which will take place in Vienna, Austria will gladly welcome a Vietnamese business delegation.
Austria has just held a large scale cultural program in Vietnam. How does it promote bilateral culture cooperation?
Austria organized the first time ever in Vietnam, a Vienna Ball, on 12 November, 2010, to contribute to the 1000 years of Thang Long – Hanoi. This Ball was organized as a charity event, benefiting the Friendship Village near Hanoi. It was also organized as a dialogue of Austrian and Vietnamese culture, featuring a live orchestra and a dancing instructor from Vienna, debutantes from a Hanoi dancing school and Vietnamese singer stars Thanh Lam, Duc Tuan and Bich Thuy. I believe that the Ball was a big success that all performers liked it and that therefore, the groundwork for future, intensified Austrian-Vietnamese cooperation in the cultural field has been laid.
Thus, what do you think about the significance of your working visit to Vietnam this time?
The purpose of my visit was my participation in the Vienna Charity Ball, and talks with Vietnamese official representatives: Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen The Thao, and Deputy Minister of the MPI Cao Viet Sinh, as well as with VCCI Vice President Doan Duy Khuong. My visit was an excellent occasion to present the City of Vienna as a business, cultural and tourist destination on the one hand, and to get an update on the dynamic developments in Vietnam on the other hand. I am very satisfied on both counts.
Reported by Thu Huyen
Vietnamese
