At the event, EuroCham President Alain Cany confirmed that Vietnam remains an important partner for the EU, particularly in trade. He also praised the country’s economic 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 attaches great importance to developing 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 US$12 billion, with US$7 billion already disbursed.

Vietnam has a plan to export US$12 billion worth of products to the EU by 2010.