German press spotlights Vietnam economic liberalisation efforts

Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)

The article began with the opinion that relations between Vietnam and Germany have recorded fruitful development recently.

It said that 2015 witnessed high-ranking visits from both nations’ leaders. German Parliament President Norbert Lammert visited Vietnam earlier this year and Vietnamese State President Truong Tan Sang is scheduled to visit Germany later in the year.

While assessing Vietnam’s development, the article stressed that Vietnam has been growing between 7 and 8 percent per year since its 30-year reform process began. The country also fulfilled its target of an average income per capita of 1,000 USD in 2009.

Over the last two years, Vietnam’s economic growth has remained high, 6 percent per year, in spite of the impacts of the global economic crisis, the article said.

To promote national economic development, the Vietnamese Party and Government are carrying out an appropriate economic strategy, the article argued. It focused on Vietnam’s foreign trade policy, especially because Vietnam completed negotiations of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement in 2015, and an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will be formed by the year’s end.

Vietnam was becoming a crucial part of the largest regional trade agreements, it said.

Regarding economic links between Vietnam and Germany, the article cited Bjoern Koslowski, Vice President of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK), affirming that free trade agreements Vietnam signed with its partners brought various benefits to the country.

Vietnam’s investment climate was one of the best ones in ASEAN, which was very attractive to German businesses seeking to invest, Koslowski said, adding that Vietnam’s economy would reap more gains if it develops a workforce and managers with high professional skills, and fights corruption more effectively.

In its conclusion, the article gave comments on Germany Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s upcoming visit, stressing that this would create an impulse to improve Vietnam and Germany’s economic ties, as well as deepen political trust.