Facilitating French Investors to Do Business in Vietnam

Recently, in the framework of a working visit to France and attending the 2^nd Vietnam-France high-level economic dialogue, Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh held talks with Mr Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development of France. The two sides agreed to jointly deepen long term diplomatic relations between the two countries, as well as further promote investment projects in the next time.

At the talks, the two sides were very pleased to see cooperation in all fields between Vietnam and France in recent years increasingly strengthened in all areas: political, diplomatic, economic and cultural. Another important point is that the two countries have great similarities in culture and history, which is a favourable precondition to enhance comprehensive cooperation in the future. Besides, the two sides also found that the trade and investment cooperation is still limited and incommensurate with the potential strengths of the two countries.

The two ministers also discussed specific areas of French strength such as transport infrastructure, urban development, nuclear energy, aerospace engineering, medical, agricultural products and food. These also are sectors where Vietnam is in need of development for the future. The two sides also acknowledged the enormous potential that can help the two economies complement each other, and vowed to create favourable conditions to expand cooperation in the future on the basis of frank dialogue and mutual trust.

Also at the meeting with more than 100 leading corporations in the framework of the visit to France organised by the French Business Confederation (Medef), Minister Bui Quang Vinh called French companies to cooperate and make long-term investments in Vietnam. The Minister appreciated the level of development of France in the fields of science and technology, advanced technology, corporate governance and confirmed that this was the field that Vietnam was aiming to attract investment.

Minister Bui Quang Vinh also on behalf of the Vietnamese business community and the Government of Vietnam conveyed that Vietnam currently put the best efforts to restructure the economy towards growth based on increased labour productivity and increased product quality in order to avoid the middle income trap. The investment environment in Vietnam is increasingly favourable due to three particular breakthroughs in transparency of development policy, training human resources, and building a modern infrastructure system in the fields transport and energy enough to absorb capital flows.

Minister Bui Quang Vinh affirmed Vietnam would open up to private sector investment in infrastructure in the form of public-private partnership (PPP) to promote capital efficiency. The field is so far been undertaken by foreign loans. This is really an investment opportunity for French companies. In addition, state owned enterprises in Vietnam are being aggressively equitised and the private enterprises in Vietnam are also restructuring, which also opens up opportunities for French businesses to establish partnerships.

In addition, Minister Bui Quang Vinh also mentioned that Vietnam is actively involved in the process of economic cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The formation of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015 will pave the way for Vietnam to become an important gateway to a market of 600 million people with a huge demand. Currently, Vietnam is also rated as a dynamic economy in Asia -Pacific, a region accounting for two thirds of the world population, so the prospect for cooperation is huge, not only with France but with the whole of Europe.

For his part, Mr Thierry Courtaigne, Vice President, General Director in charge of International Cooperation of Medef, was pleased to see the change and growth of the Vietnam economy over time. He said that Vietnam's economy has been developing very dynamically, offering really favourable conditions for French enterprises to cooperate and do business in Vietnam.

Mr Michel Drobniak, Economic Counsellor of the French Embassy in Vietnam, also assessed highly the potential and prospects for cooperation between the two countries, on the basis of stable growth in Vietnam in recent years, young and skilled workforce and promoted reform processes.

In addition, Minister Bui Quang Vinh also spent time answering the questions of French firms about the difficulties in participating in the bidding process and implementation of the projects, namely the construction of subway No. 2 in Ho Chi Minh City, urban railway No. 3 in Hanoi, the renewable energy projects, and investment guarantee process in PPP. In addition to providing immediate answers, Minister Vinh also gave advice and provided information to help French companies solve difficulties to approach and successfully implement projects.

Anh Phuong