Vietnam, France step up trade and investment cooperation
VOV.VN - An economic seminar held to promote trade and investment ties between the nation and France was held at the headquarters of the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam (CCIFV), with the event featuring officials and roughly 80 businesses and investors from both nations.
As part of his address a the function, Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang highlighted the country as one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic economies in ASEAN. The diplomat outlined how the Government has been persistently improving its legal framework to attract more French investors in fields of mutual interest, particularly hi-tech industries and those promoting sustainability and environment protection.
He described the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UVFTA) as a landmark trade deal which provides both a stable and long-term framework for trade, as well as economic and investment co-operation between Vietnam and the EU, including France.
Moving forward, both nations will celebrate the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations and the 10th year of their strategic partnership ahead in 2023, with Ambassador Thang anticipating that mutual economic ties will enjoy strong breakthroughs moving forward. This progress will see an increasing number of French enterprises selecting the Vietnamese market as a destination for investment.
According to details given by the diplomat, France is now the second largest investor in the Vietnamese market among EU countries, pouring more than US$3.6 billion into the nation annually.
The occasion saw an open and lively discussion take place among speakers and representatives of French businesses, with French firms wishing to explore the nation’s tax rates applicable at industrial parks. Other areas of interest also included the Government’s investment incentives for foreign financiers, the country’s strategy and policies for the development of renewables, and governmental support for foreign companies in new research and development, startup, and innovative projects.
The nation’s geographical location at the centre of ASEAN makes it highly competitive among its peers in the logistics sector, according to Thibaut Giroux, president of the CCIFV, adding that its population of 100 million and large workforce represent attractive factors to foreign enterprises.
At the conclusion of the seminar, Giroux and business representatives of the two countries expressed their desire to continue to receive active co-operation from the Vietnamese Embassy in France this year and ahead in following years. This will thereby ramp up trade-investment co-operation between the business communities of the two sides, creating new paradigms for mutual economic co-operation moving forward.