Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang made the comment on June 25 in a keynote address delivered at the opening of a Vietnam-Germany Business Forum in Berlin that attracted more than 200 business representatives from the two countries.
Two-way trade turnover has risen astonishingly over 7.5 fold from 2000 to set an all time record high of nearly US$8 billion in 2013, Hoang said, adding that in just the first four months of this year, it surpassed US$2 billion.
The minister stressed that Germany is the largest European Union trade partner of Vietnam, accounting for 20% of the Southeast Asian nation’s total exports to the EU and is an extremely important gateway for Vietnamese products to penetrate other markets in Europe and around the globe.
As of May 2014, German companies had nearly 230 foreign-invested projects in Vietnam with total capitalization in excess of US$1 billion. Additionally, the country is one of leading official development assistance (ODA) providers for Vietnam.
Hoang emphasised the two countries are well on the pathway to comprehensive, well coordinated and sustainable cooperative relations, and when the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA) comes to fruition later this year, the opportunities for trade and economic cooperation will rise exponentially.
The minister singled out cooperation in education and training as well as science and technology as prime areas that Vietnam and Germany can mutually benefit from.
Speakers and businesses at the forum dilated at length on the opportunities for investment in Vietnam, along with the obstacles and barriers facing foreign investment and measures needed to overcome them.
They were in general agreement that the EVFTA trade pact will have a dramatically beneficial impact on trade relations,
Although the overall impact of the trade pact is positive, it will also raise the bar for Vietnamese products exported to European countries as new strict and demanding regulations will also come into play, they agreed.
At the forum, the MoIT and the Vietnamese business community expressed their keen interest in forming cooperative ventures aimed at diversifying the country’s industrial base in the support industry, which is another area of German strength.
Earlier, Minister Hoang held a working session with Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economics and Energy Sigmar Gabriel to discuss measures needed to bolster cooperation in economics, trade and investment.
They also talked about measures to accelerate negotiations on the EVFTA and to prepare for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK) to be held in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2014.
The minister stressed that Germany is the largest European Union trade partner of Vietnam, accounting for 20% of the Southeast Asian nation’s total exports to the EU and is an extremely important gateway for Vietnamese products to penetrate other markets in Europe and around the globe.
As of May 2014, German companies had nearly 230 foreign-invested projects in Vietnam with total capitalization in excess of US$1 billion. Additionally, the country is one of leading official development assistance (ODA) providers for Vietnam.
Hoang emphasised the two countries are well on the pathway to comprehensive, well coordinated and sustainable cooperative relations, and when the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA) comes to fruition later this year, the opportunities for trade and economic cooperation will rise exponentially.
The minister singled out cooperation in education and training as well as science and technology as prime areas that Vietnam and Germany can mutually benefit from.
Speakers and businesses at the forum dilated at length on the opportunities for investment in Vietnam, along with the obstacles and barriers facing foreign investment and measures needed to overcome them.
They were in general agreement that the EVFTA trade pact will have a dramatically beneficial impact on trade relations,
Although the overall impact of the trade pact is positive, it will also raise the bar for Vietnamese products exported to European countries as new strict and demanding regulations will also come into play, they agreed.
At the forum, the MoIT and the Vietnamese business community expressed their keen interest in forming cooperative ventures aimed at diversifying the country’s industrial base in the support industry, which is another area of German strength.
Earlier, Minister Hoang held a working session with Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economics and Energy Sigmar Gabriel to discuss measures needed to bolster cooperation in economics, trade and investment.
They also talked about measures to accelerate negotiations on the EVFTA and to prepare for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK) to be held in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2014.
