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Spanish firms visit to scout investment opportunities
Twenty-four Spanish companies will visit Viet Nam to seek partners and investment opportunities at the Viet Nam-Spain Investment and Business Cooperation Forum 2010 from November 23-24.
The Investment Forum is organised by the Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy and the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Center.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday in HCM City, Alberto Cerdan, Spanish economic and commercial counselor in HCM City, said the companies were selected by the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade.
The companies are involved in architecture and urban consultancy, agriculture, automotive components, electronic systems and energy and construction, as well as engineering, fashion retail, metallurgy, footwear, technological services, textiles and water treatment.
The forum is a platform that allows Vietnamese and Spanish companies to start joint ventures, invest in new enterprises, draw up technology-transfer agreements, create franchises or sign outsourcing agreements.
He said Spanish companies were not familiar with Southeast Asia, having previously focused on European and North African markets.
Cerdan said that Viet Nam had inexpensive labour costs and a favourable business environment, which will attract more foreign investment.
At least 250 Vietnamese companies are expected to join the forum and become partners of Spanish companies.
He said that he believed that Spanish companies' market share in the Vietnamese market would increase in the coming years.
Total bilateral trade between the countries reached US$1.434 billion last year, a fall of 17 per cent compared to 2008 due to the global financial crisis.
Viet Nam's exports to Spain totalled $1.275 billion while its imports reached $159 million.
In the first seven months of this year, bilateral trade reached $650 million, a 6 per cent increase from last year.
The figure has been modest, and he hoped it would increase further when a free trade agreement between Europe and Viet Nam is signed.
The main exports from Viet Nam to Spain are shoes, garments, coffee, seafood, aquaculture products and furniture.
Spain exports to Viet Nam include chemical and pharmaceutical products, steel, electrical machinery, machine tools, leather and tiles.
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