Enterprises of Bayern State in Germany have advantages to cooperate with Vietnam in automobile and component manufacture, mechanical engineering, electric equipment production, garments and textiles, industrial environment treatment, and especially new and natural energy like wind, solar and bio-gas, affirmed state Governor Edmund Stoifer at talks with Vietnamese Deputy Industrial Minister Le Duong Quang in Hanoi early this month.
Edmund Stoifer agreed with Quang to carry out concrete working programs to boost investment ties between Vietnam and Germany.
Besides these fields, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry also asked the German side during talks to assist Vietnam in training qualified workers at home or in Germany, give financial assistance to upgrade the ministry’s vocational schools, boost exchange of visits by enterprises of both sides for trade and investment promotion, and share experience in developing small and medium-sized firms.
Information technology, telecommunications, electronics, shipbuilding industry, fire and explosion prevention and fighting, and finance and securities are also among fields the guest and host consider potential areas for cooperation.
“Vietnam has an economic growth rate of 7-8 per cent per year, so the country’s demand for energy can cause environment pollution. Therefore, three matters of special concern are high technology for treating environment pollution, a hike in efficiency in the use of energy, and a decrease in fossil fuel use,” said the Bayern state Governor.
According to statistics of the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning & Investment, investment from Germany to Vietnam remains modest compared to the real potential and desire of the two sides. To date, Germany has had 80 projects with total registered capital of US$370 million, in which total disbursed investment was merely US$160 million.
Trade between Vietnam and Germany rose from US$1 billion in 2001 to US$3 billion in 2006. Vietnam’s major export products to the foreign nation were garments, footwear, coal, cigarettes, ore, coffee, tea, rice, fruits, honey, seafood, rubber, and porcelain.
Vietnam has mainly imported machinery and equipment, foodstuff, soft drink, steel, chemicals, electronic goods, medicines, and some kinds of raw materials such as cotton yarn from Germany.
Germany pledged financial and technical assistance worth 98 million euros in 2006-2007 for economic and industrial environment protection, and healthcare projects in Vietnam.
Vietnam and Germany already signed the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, agreements on aviation and maritime cooperation, and the Double Tax Avoidance Agreement. (Vietnam Industrial Times)
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