Southern firms want stronger ties with new diplomats

Entrepreneurs of 18 southern provinces and cities on Wednesday expressed a desire for strong relations with 21 newly-installed ambassadors and consuls general to 45 countries to push up trade and investment ties between Vietnam and other nations.

Speaking at a meeting in HCM City on Wednesday, Tran Trong Toan, ambassador to South Korea, said Vietnam’s representative offices could help local enterprises promote their products and trademarks to the global community. These offices could also carry out market surveys or check reliability of foreign partners, he said.

Most of enterprises were concerned about a lack of information about international markets, especially those in South America, Africa and Ukraine.

In response, Toan said if enterprises wanted to seek support from embassies, they should send their requests to the offices as soon as possible, maintain regular contacts and learn necessary info from the offices via the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others on the Internet.

Nguyen Van Dao, ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, said the best way is to send information and requests via emails so that the embassy can quickly help them in marketing.

Regarding the African market, Dao Duy Tien, ambassador to Libya, Tunisia, Cyprus, Ghana, Djibouti, and Chad, said the market is fairly easy for penetration but poses problems in transport and payment.

A representative of Sovilaco, a labor export enterprise, said they met difficulties in expanding markets in Finland, Czech and Sweden as local workers could not meet demands of foreign employers. He suggested the ambassadors in the countries to provide updated information of recruiters to facilitate their training activities.

Nguyen Viet Hung, ambassador to Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Pakistan is a potential market but enterprises should take prudence before signing contracts.

VietNamNet/SGT

Tags: Vietnam cooperation, Vietnam enterprises