Vietnam-German Seek to Enhance Cooperation

Vietnam-German Seek to Enhance Cooperation

At present, Germany pours little investment capital into Vietnam. The volume stands at just US$118 million and two-way trade between Germany and Vietnam has reached only US$1.4 billion, despite both countries having great potential in trade and investment cooperation. Solutions to promote cooperative ties between the two countries were the focus of a seminar held recently by the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre.

Limited access to information

The Vietnam-based German Technical Support Organisation has recently announced the results of survey conducted by German economic expert Axel Mierke revealing that up to 80 per cent of German enterprises wish to return to Vietnam because of the cheap, diligent and skilled labour force.

The private sector in Vietnam has been rapidly developing with an increasingly large demand for equipment and technology. Surveyed German enterprises expressed their satisfaction with the investment and business environment in Vietnam with more than 70% of enterprises operating in Vietnam are currently planning to expand their operations. Future investment fields include textile and garments, footwear, automobile manufacturing, insurance and banking. However, some German enterprises said that it was still difficult for them to access information on investment conditions and opportunities in Vietnam. Apart from the 30 investors with US$118 million in investment capital, the image of and information about Vietnam as an attractive destination for foreign investment remain a mystery for most German enterprises. Information disbursement needs to be further improved with the promotion and enhancement of information channels relating to the country, the people, investment, the trade and tourist environment, and opportunities for German enterprises to develop plans to invest in Vietnam more effectively.

Germany is one of the leading countries in Europe in terms of the number of tourists travelling abroad. However, Vietnam attracts only 50,000 visitors from Germany each year, seven times lower than Thailand. Nguyen Xuan Hung, director of the German HM Sky Tourist Company, said that it was due to the weak promotional activities of Vietnamese tourism bodies in Germany as just a few tourism enterprises have participated in international fairs and exhibitions in Germany. Meanwhile, Singapore and Thailand launch great marketing and promotional activities through German media. It was not until 2003, when Vietnam Airlines planned to open a route to Frankfurt, that marketing of Vietnam in Germany was boosted. In the first six months of this year, major promotion programmes were introduced. These included a festival on the occasion of the opening of the Hanoi-Frankfurt route via Russia, a festival in Berlin to announce the opening of the direct flight route from Vietnam to Frankfurt and a the participation in a tourism fair in Germany by the Vietnam Tourism Service. The number of German visitors to Vietnam is expected to increase sharply in the final months of this year and in 2005.

Doreen Tananow, representative of the Oasis Travel Company of Germany, said that her company and other travel enterprises in Germany would introduce tours to Vietnam from now until the end of the year as Vietnam Airlines and Lufthansa Airlines from Germany have opened direct flight routes to and from Vietnam to help save time and money for visitors.

Export opportunities

The director of the representative office of the Multi-Markt supermarket chain from Germany said that there were many opportunities for Vietnam’s goods to enter the Germany market. Goods items, including handicrafts, gifts, garments, footwear, pottery and interior decoration items, have seen great results in Germany. However, most of these items have been imported from China. Vietnam has a great competitive advantage thanks to its high quality products with unique designs embodying the countries cultural identity. Among the successful businessmen in Germany, many are owners of Vietnamese fast food shops. Tananow explained that Vietnamese rice specialities, such as noodles, rice vermicelli and spices, sold in Germany were imported from Vietnam but not from other countries, such as China or Thailand, even though these are sold under a Vietnamese trademark like in the US, Japan and France. At supermarkets of the HM Sky Company, consumers can buy Phu Quoc fish sauce, Trung Nguyen coffee, Beer 333, Minh Long and Bat Trang pottery articles, Thai Nguyen tea and various garments made in Vietnam.

The representative from the Multi-Markt chain said that the corporation was exploring and wanted to supplement more goods from Vietnam in its supermarkets. Among its new products, the supermarket chain pays special attention to seafood and processed food and is striving to bring this group of Vietnamese products to the Germany market. The Ruby Import and Export company, which is run by an overseas Vietnamese, is carrying out a project on building a Vietnamese House in Marzahn district in Berlin.

German enterprises involved in machinery manufacturing, electronics, medical equipment and cosmetics are also exploring the Vietnamese market.

• Thuy Tien