Vietnam – Finland Business Forum: Toward Mutual Benefits

In the framework of the Vietnam visit by Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen recently, the Finnish Trade Promotion Agency (Finpro) collaborated with the HCM City branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI – HCM) to organise the Vietnam – Finland Business Forum in Ho Chi Minh City, aiming to create business and investment opportunities for companies of both nations.

Addressing at the forum, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen highly appreciated great achievements of Vietnam in the renovation and integration processes and continuous high economic growth rates in many years, even in the context of global economic and financial crisis. He also affirmed that Finland highly valued the position and role of Vietnam in Asia and in the world, hoping to strengthen comprehensive relations with Vietnam, especially in industries of Finnish strengths like environmental protection, electricity, forestation, education and social policies.

Mr Vo Tan Thanh, Director of VCCI – HCM, said: Vietnam and Finland created the diplomatic relations in 1973. The two countries have maintained very good traditional relations for long. The Finnish Government has actively supported Vietnam during the national construction and development processes, especially when Vietnam was imposed trade embargo. In recent years, economic and commercial ties between Vietnam and Finland have obtained positive results. Finnish businesses have made initial successes in the Southeast Asian nation.

The two-way trade and investment ties have positively expanded 20 percent – 40 percent annually in recent years. Notably, in 2008, the bilateral trade revenue climbed 40 percent from 2007 to US$240 million and Finland invested some US$60 million in six projects in Vietnam. As one of the first ODA lenders for Vietnam, Finland has so far lent nearly US$400 million worth of ODA capital to Vietnam, mainly for poverty reduction, clean water, environment, science and technology.

However, Mr Thanh pointed out that the bilateral trade and investment still fail to meet the common expectation. To boost economic ties, the governments of Vietnam and Finland agreed to adopt measures to send the two-way trade revenue to US$1 billion and Finland’s investment in Vietnam to US$1 billion in one or two years.

On the behalf of Finnish businesses, Mr Matti Lievonen, President and CEO of Finland-based Nestle Oil Company and the leader of the Finnish business delegation, said: Finland is not a large country but its businesses are of global scale while Vietnam is a very dynamic economy in the region, saying Finnish businesses are ready to cooperate with Vietnamese businesses for targets of mutual benefits.

Previously, many Finnish companies carried out 30-year shipbuilding projects in Vietnam. In the 1980s, Finnish enterprises granted millions of Euro for water treatment systems in Hanoi and Haiphong cities. At present, Vietnam is the second most interested market of Finland, only after China; thus, Finnish businesses wish to do long-term business in Vietnam. Particularly, they want to invest in service industry, infrastructure construction, environment solution, deepwater seaport development, power plant production and telecom industry.

(VCCI)

Tags: Vietnam business news, Vietnam Finland corporation

Posted by VBN on Nov 29 2009. 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