"After finishing the Vietnamese visit to return to Denmark, the thing I want to tell Danish enterprises is Vietnam has put good and deep impression in me. This is a potential investment market with high economic growth rate," H.E. Bendt Bendtsen, Danish Deputy Prime Minister Bendt Bendtsen said at his four-day visit to Vietnam from September 12.
To date, Denmark has invested in 38 projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of nearly US$194 million, ranking 25th out of 74 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Danish-invested projects not only contribute to the development of food industry, heavy industry and service but also improve managerial capacity, technology transfer and human resources development of Vietnam in many fields. “We pledge to raise the investment to US$1 billion in the future. Danish enterprises arriving in Vietnam this time will be bridges to further strengthen the economic cooperation of the two countries,” Danish Deputy Prime Minister Bendt Bendtsen affirmed.
At the Danish Business Forum held by the Danish Embassy in Vietnam in coordination with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Vietnamese Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung highly appreciated supports of the Danish Government and investors. Denmark offers Vietnam aid worth about US$50 million annually. However, H.E. Bendt Bendtsen pledged to raise the aid to US$67 million in 2006.
“We hope Danish investors focus on the fields of production of new materials, new energy sources, hi-tech products, information technology, biotechnology, manufacturing mechanics, food processing, infrastructure development and the production of goods for export, and particularly focus on technology transfer and human resources development in Vietnam,” Hung said.
To attract foreign investors, Vietnam is endeavouring to complete its legal and policy system suitable with the market economy and international integration. A lot of economics-related laws have been issued and amended, especially in the fields of foreign investors’ concerns like land, trade, tax, intellectual property. Notably, the enforcement of the Investment Law and the Enterprise Law to treat both domestic and foreign investors equally will create a fair legal environment for all forms of enterprises.
At the forum, representatives of giant industrial and service groups and financial investors of Denmark expressed their desires in boosting up investment into the Vietnamese market. The first deal was signed at the forum between Denmark’s Callenberg Electrical/Automation/HVAC/Technologies and Vietnam’s Vinashin Electronic. Mr. Hans Henrick Hoffmann, Sale Manager of Callengerg Group, said: “When visiting Vietnam and many shipyards of Vinashin, I found the Vietnamese market is very potential. In the first phase (two years), we will ship products to Vietnamese market via Vinashin Electronic and we will invest in manufacturing switchboard equipment for the Vietnamese maritime sector in the second phase.”
Thu Huyen
Vietnamese
