The event was organised by the Italian Trade Commission (ICE), the Italian Banks’ Association (ABI) and the Italian Confederation of Industry Associations (Coanfindustria), with support from the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Embassy of Italy in Vietnam.Making speech at the forum, Ivan Scalfarotto, Italian Deputy Minister of Economic Development said that Italy wants to boost its investment in Vietnam, focusing on providing more advanced technology equipment at competitive prices, while also supporting the country’s sustainable development with infrastructure and renewable energy projects.
Business Forum Italy Vietnam
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The forum hosted 150 delegates representing some of Italy’s world-leading brands, in industries from renewable energy and infrastructure to machinery and banks and entrepreneurial associations. More than 200 Vietnamese counterparts also attended.
Italy is now Vietnam’s eighth-largest trading partner in the world and the largest in the EU. Italian exports to Vietnam include machinery, leather products and electronics. Italian investment in Vietnam increased to 360 million USD in 2016 with 78 projects implemented.
Bilateral trade between Vietnam and Italy increased sharply from 1.13 billion USD in 2006 to 4.68 billion USD in 2016. In the first eight months of this year, bilateral trade reached 2.9 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 9 percent.
Identifying economic cooperation as a priority pillar of bilateral cooperation, the two countries aim to increase trade turnover to 6 billion USD in the 2017- 18 period. They hope to increase Italy’s investment in Vietnam, especially in sectors in which Italy is strong, creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese agriculture and seafood products to access the Italian market.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc wants Italy to boost FDI into Vietnam
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As regards the obstacles of Italian firms when doing business in Vietnam, Pham Hoang Hai, executive director of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (ICHAM), told Vietnam News that Italian firms are frustrated by the weakness of supporting industries in Vietnam. Since most Italian firms doing business in Vietnam are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), they are in need of component factories or auxiliary suppliers in Vietnam and struggle to find the high-quality products they want to use.
However, Vietnam also offers many factors that reassure Italian investors of its strong potential, such as the stability of its policy system, an encouraging corporate tax system and workers whose skills are flexible and transferable to a variety of tasks.
At the conference, two Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) have been signed. One MOU is between the Confidustria Marmomacchine – an association of Italian stone and marble manufacturing companies—and the Vietnam Association for Building Materials and the Luc Yen White Marble Association. The other is between the ICHAM and Vietnam’s General Department of Customs.
This is the first time that ICHAM has signed an agreement with Vietnam’s General Department of Customs aimed at limiting trade fraud and smuggling, as well as guaranteeing that all products coming from Italy to Vietnam are 100 percent made in Italy or 100 percent produced by Italian companies, said Michele D’Ercole, chairman of ICHAM.
