French Minister of Foreign Trade Nicole Bricq has said that his country will further encourage small and medium sized enterprises to invest in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.
He stated this during a conference themed ‘Southeast Asia: markets to explore and conquer’ held by the French Senate and Agency for International Business Development, in Paris on October 25.
The conference, which attracted many French trade officials and representatives from French businesses that operate in Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, had three discussions. They focused on the potential of many Southeast Asia markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Vietnam, as well as ways to penetrate other markets.
During their discussions, Vietnam was considered a ‘dragon’ of the future and the centre of ASEAN, with a dynamic economy and promising growth and development.
The participants also discussed geo-politic issues as well as chances, challenges, risks, strengths and weakness seen in the Southeast Asian markets.
They agreed that the region is a great destination to broaden investments, with its high-qualified, young, abundant and cheap labour resources, high demand and incentives for foreign businesses.
The Director of France’s Trade Commission (Ubifrance) in Vietnam, Marc Cagnard said that Vietnam is a promising market with a dynamic trade exchange, a high rate of industrialisation, a strong domestic market and a high consumer demand.
He said Ubifrance hopes French SMEs will strengthen their investments in Vietnam .
Currently, about 300 French businesses are operating in Vietnam, mainly in industry, trade, science and technology and agricultural product and food processing.-VNA
