EuroCham: Vietnam safe for overseas investors

The European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) stated that Vietnam is “A safe place for foreign investors” during talks between representatives of a number of European businesses and the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade and Industry in Hanoi on April 27.

At the event, EuroCham President Alain Cany confirmed that Vietnam remains an important partner for the EU, particularly in trade, and praised the country’s growth rate, its dynamism and untapped potential.

Cany highlighted the EuroCham’s important role in Vietnam’s industrialisation and international integration since it was among the first partners to assist the Vietnamese Government to implement its integration programme.

Acknowledging the contributions EuroCham and the European business community have made, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang called on them to speed up the disbursement of capital to their ongoing projects here.

He confirmed that in its foreign policy, Vietnam places a lot of importance to its relationship with Europe and sees EU’s assistance and cooperation as matching with the Vietnamese Government’s socio-economic development priorities.

“There is a huge opportunity for Vietnam and the EU to further develop their cooperation and investment in industries, especially in mechanical engineering, petro-chemistry, hi-technologies and new forms of energies,” said the minister.

He pointed out the effectiveness of European-invested projects in Vietnam, most of which are engaged in Vietnam’s leading sectors, such as oil and gas exploitation, infrastructure construction, telecommunications, banking, power generation and food processing.

Currently, European companies have 796 investment projects up and running in Vietnam. Those projects have a combined registered capital of nearly 12 billion USD, with 7 billion USD already disbursed.

Vietnam and the EU have earned a total two-way trade value of 76 billion USD in the last nine years, of which 50 billion USD was Vietnamese exports to Europe.

Last year, Vietnam made 10 billion USD in exports to the EU, representing a 17.6 percent increase over 2007.

The country is targeting exporting 12 billion USD worth of products to the EU by 2010.

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