Italy and Spain bolster trade and investment ties with Vietnam

Bui Thanh Son, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs holding the events “Meet Italy” and “Meet Spain” last week, said that the meetings, despite being the first conducted between the two countries and 34 Vietnamese localities showed strong determination from all sides to boost economic ties,.

As Vietnam is accelerating its industrialisation and modernisation activities, it wants to boost cooperation with its many international friends, including Italy and Spain. The establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015 and the coming into effect of many free trade agreements (FTAs) will contribute to increasing trade and investment between these countries, Son commented.

During the "Meet Italy" event, Son noted that since the two countries established strategic diplomatic ties in 2013, bilateral trade and investment ties have been strengthened significantly. Specifically, two-way trade turnover reached $4 billion in 2014.

Addressing the event, Cecilia Piccioni, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam, emphasised that the cooperation potential between Italy and Vietnamese localities had not yet been fully tapped. She expressed hope that with strong points in infrastructure, manufactured goods, gold production, pharmaceuticals, furniture, machinery, aerospace technology, as well as food and drink, Italian firms will be willing to cooperate with Vietnamese partners.

“We are launching many initiatives, including the participation of Italian firms at an agricultural expo in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2016, to promote trade and investment ties with Vietnam,” she disclosed, saying that agriculture is one of the most likely potential cooperation fields between the two countries.

Piccioni went on to note that the first visit by the Italian president to Vietnam in November 2015 is likely to greatly contribute to increasing bilateral ties, as an agreement between Italy and Vietnamese localities would be signed, and a Vietnamese-Italian strategic dialogue would be held on the occasion. These events show Italy’s strong commitment to boost investment in the Southeast Asian nation.

Meanwhile, at the "Meet Spain", Spanish ambassador to Vietnam Alfonso Tena expressed his pleasure at the growing relation between the two countries since they established bilateral diplomatic ties in 1977 and a strategic partnership in 2009. Notably, bilateral cooperation has been developing in various fields, such as politics, economics, culture, and education, with bilateral trade increasing by over 20 per cent on-year to $2.5 billion in 2014.

He proposed that although Vietnamese localities have specific advantages and potentials, they should offer the best possible incentives to attract foreign investors, including those from Spain.

Tena said that the two countries have worked on aviation cooperation and on some policies to support businesses of the two countries. "We appreciate Vietnam’s visa-exemption policy, which would encourage more Spanish investors to Vietnam. We would provide support for Vietnam to develop tourism and provide significant financial resources for metro line 5 in Ho Chi Minh City," he noted.

Continuing the ambassador’s train of thoughts, Jose Antonio Bretones, Commercial and Economic Counsellor from the Embassy of Spain, disclosed that although Spanish investment in Vietnam remains lower than expected, as only 30 Spanish firms had invested in projects in Vietnam, he still believed that the situation would improve in the future when the FTAs take effect.

“Electronics, energy, and food processing would remain amongst the potential fields in Vietnam for Spanish businesses,” he said.

Vietnam and Italy aim to lift the two-way trade turnover to $5 billion in 2015, while the Southeast Asian nation and Spain have agreed to work hard to increase bilateral trade by 15 per cent this year.