European health vendors seek opportunities in Vietnam

September 24, 2016 | 13:41

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Six European companies have just returned from the healthcare trade mission to Vietnam organised by the EU-Vietnam Business Network (EVBN).

From September 20 to 23, the companies, which came from the Republic of Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on a fact-finding and networking tour.

On the first day, they learned about the potential of the Vietnamese healthcare product market and attended a presentation by Miriam Garcia-Ferrer, first counsellor and head of the Economic & Trade section of the EU Delegation to Vietnam, on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, and one by Le Thanh Cong, deputy head of the Department of Planning and Finance of the Ministry of Health, on the Vietnamese government’s healthcare financing policies.

The companies later visited a few public and private hospitals in Hanoi as well as some workshops producing healthcare equipment in Ho Chi Minh City. They also met with potential business partners in both cities.

Vietnam’s medical devices market has been observing a stable growth since 2014. The market is expected to grow from €668.7 million ($750.7 million) in 2014 to €977.8 million ($1.1 billion) in 2019. Vietnam imports most medical equipment, mainly from Singapore, Japan, China, the US, and Germany.

EVBN’s upcoming trade missions include the Green Technologies European Pavilion from November 9 to 11. EVBN is going to select 15 companies operating in the sectors of energy efficiency, renewable energy, as well as water and waste management to bring to Ho Chi Minh City for an info session, B2B meetings, and a three-day exhibition at the European Pavilion.

EVBN is a project co-funded by the European Union and established at the end of 2013. Its core objective is to help European companies, in particular small and medium enterprises, access the Vietnamese market.