Italy aims to boost business ties with VN

Viet Nam News spoke to Italian Ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni on the occasion of his country’s National Day today.
During a recent media briefing, you confirmed that the Italian government plans to provide Italian companies with loans of up to 70 per cent of required capital, in order to stimulate and assist business with Vietnamese counterparts. Why did the Italian government choose Viet Nam in particular? Do you think Italian firms will take advantage of this opportunity?

Italy is fully aware of the crucial role that SMEs play in the development of Viet Nam. SMEs form the backbone of the Vietnamese economy in exactly the same way they do in Italy. For this reason, we decided to support certain initiatives in order to improve the productivity of Vietnamese SMEs, providing them with the tools that would allow them to interact with Italian companies and take advantage of foreign know-how and modern procedures in order to create a positive market spill over. Amongst the initiatives which we have chosen to support, there lies the possibility, for Italian companies establishing a JV with local partners, of receiving soft loans of up to 70 per cent of required capital (up to a maximum of 5 million Euros). As part of the Italian law on developing cooperation activities, loans would only be granted in the case of specific economic sectors, including agriculture, breeding, fishery, microfinance and micro-entrepreneurship services, which positively influence human development and environmental sustainability. Some companies have already taken advantage of soft loans and we hope that many others will follow suit. In order to encourage Italian companies to invest in Viet Nam the local economic climate would need to be enhanced, made attractive and kept stable. Italian entrepreneurs need to be made aware of the possibilities in Viet Nam. We plan to introduce a scheme on PPP infrastructure projects, launched by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), in Italy in an effort to convey the fact that Viet Nam, in liberalizing its trade, could become an important investment platform for quality manufactured export products.

The Fontana Maggiore, a medieval fountain in Perugia City in Italy. — Photo courtesy of the Embassy
We believe in the increased partnership between Italian and Vietnamese enterprises. I am personally convinced that Vietnamese SMEs need Italian SMEs and vice versa in developing a new market, and, through co-operation, new ways of production.
Italy provides more ODA to Viet Nam than to any other country in Asia, recently giving Viet Nam 30 million euros (US$43 million) for the 2010-12 period. How can Viet Nam best take advantage of this funding?
In co-operation with competent Vietnamese authorities, the 30 million Euro grant is intended for the development of health care, vocational training and environmental defence throughout central provinces of Viet Nam.
It is essential that institutions benefiting from future projects take all measures deemed necessary to consolidate and maintain progress.
Italy at a glance
Area: 301,230sq.km
Population: 60 million
Capital: Rome
Language: Italian
Currency: euro
National Flag: green, white and red
I would like to see a strong, continued and mutually beneficial, technological and cultural interchange between Vietnamese and Italian institutions.
More than 7 million euros, part of a Debt Swap Agreement signed between the two Governments, will be earmarked for environmental protection projects.
Italy has provided a lot of assistance in developing sustainable tourism and heritage site preservation in Viet Nam. What challenges do these projects face and what could be done to raise their profile?
We offer Italian tourists to Viet Nam combined visits to both historical and natural sites as well as Italian projects in an effort to promote an ethical form of tourism.
It is true that the maintenance of natural and archaeological sites involves a high financial commitment – as an Italian I understand this problem very well – but based on my experience, I can confirm that good site preservation can offer substantial economic returns.
Viet Nam, much like Italy, offers extraordinary natural and historical beauty. Italy is certainly more than ready to offer its support in preserving and developing sustainable tourism in Viet Nam. Italy is currently involved in two “sustainable tourism” projects in My Son and the Hue lagoon, implemented by UNESCO/Foundation Lerici (Polytechnic University of Milan) and FAO respectively.
2011 has been declared the year of the Viet Nam-Italy Cultural Programme. Could you brief our readers on some programme highlights and on how they could participate?
Promoting Italian culture and language fall amongst the main tasks of the Italian Embassy.These activities represent an extraordinary tool to foster mutual knowledge and dialogue between our two countries and to meet the “demand for Italy” currently felt amongst the Vietnamese people. In order to meet this demand the Embassy has developed project “Y-Viet 2011, Culture and Enterprises”, a programme of 14 cultural events containing various features of the culture and image of Italy including music, dance, figurative arts, literature and cinema. The project is intended as an instrument to foster a way of working and sharing ideas and initiatives between public and private sectors while gathering higher interest at local level.
Project Y-Viet aims to reach as many Vietnamese people as possible, with particular focus on the younger audience and university students. We also intend to involve as many Vietnamese artists as possible; the concert at the Opera House on June 2 will see the participation of a Vietnamese singer.
We really hope to replicate the Y-Viet 2011 project in coming years in order to promote the blending of Italian/Vietnamese culture and enterprise. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Italy trade

Posted by VBN on Jun 3 2011. Filed under Int'l Cooperation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry