Austrian Enterprises Wish to Accelerate Investment into Vietnam

At the forum, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said that according to World Investment Prospects Survey 2009-2011, Vietnam was assessed to be among 15 attractive investment destinations by multi-national corporations. Vietnam is striving to accelerate reform to further integrate into global economy. For the time being and in the coming time, Vietnam’s foreign investment attraction will focus on four objectives, including: quality and high effectiveness; sustainable development and development of a low carbon economy; stimulation of technology transfer; and development of highly skilled HR and workforce.  

On this basis, Vietnam will prioritize projects which are highly technological, environment friendly as well as attract investments in supporting industries, industries for agricultural sector, advantageous service sector, IT and education and training, etc.

 

The Deputy PM expressed his wish that the two nations’ enterprise communities will enhance cooperation and seek for investment opportunities and thereby utilize each other’s strengths for production development. He also hopes that Vietnamese and Austrian enterprises will be enthusiastic in making investment in such areas as infrastructure, transportation, energy (particularly recycled energy), environment and healthcare while giving more priority to technology transfer and HR training.

 

President Heinz Fischer spoke highly of the effective collaboration between enterprises of the two countries which is shown via the very impressive result of Austrian investment projects into Vietnam (worth 45 million Euros). However, this result has not been compatible to the potentials of Vietnam and Austria.

 

President Heinz Fischer emphasized that Austria, other EU partners and Vietnam as well are all benefiting from integration process. Vietnam is among countries which have to owe its strong growth to integration. During the last ten years, Austria has provided assistance to Vietnam in terms of loans at preferential interest rates which are then allocated to healthcare, transportation, infrastructure construction and education and training, etc. This cooperation has really been beneficial to Vietnamese people and the enterprise community.

 

According to Mr Reinhold Mitterlehner, the Federal Minister of Economy, Family and Youth of Austria, cooperation between Vietnam and Austria has borne fruit. Bilateral trade turnover reached 445 million Euros last year, of which Austria’s exports accounted for over 100 million Euros (three times as much as that of 2005) and so far, there have been over 300 Austrian companies present in Vietnam.

 

Also according to the Federal Minister, Vietnam is really an attractive market in Southeast Asia for Austria thanks to its increasingly high economic growth rate, abundant human resources and being located in a dynamic economic area… The collaboration opportunity for the two countries is, therefore, huge. Austria can extend its support to Vietnam in areas where it has strengths including high technology, environment protection, healthcare, transportation and recycled energy production.

 

Austria is at a favourable location to assess European market and Vietnam at a good geographic position to enter Asian and Southeast Asian market, which is considered a very favourable condition for the two nations to enhance their cooperation. Mr Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of VCCI, says that Austria’s population is one tenths that of Vietnam but its GDP three times as large as that of Vietnam. Moreover, Austria has high technology so Vietnam should take every opportunity to learn from Austria and to utilize its assistance. It is hoped that with the attention of the two governments, Austrian and Vietnamese enterprises’ collaboration will result in specific contracts and together consolidate the bilateral ties for mutual development.