President Nguyen Minh Triet’s four-nation tour in Europe aims to promote mutually-beneficiary cooperation in economics, trade and investment between Vietnam and these countries.
The President attended the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the victory over fascism in Moscow on May 8 and arrived in the Republic of Kalmykia of the Russian Federation for a visit from May 10-12. He then will also visit Belarus from May 13-16, Switzerland from May 16-19 and Finland from May 19-22.
These four countries have maintained traditional friendship and economic ties to Vietnam .
However, the cooperative relations between Vietnam and Russia, Belarus, Switzerland and Finland remain modest.
Among the four nations, Vietnam and Russia have established a strategic and comprehensive cooperative partnership. Two-way trade between Vietnam and Russia rose from between 350-400 million USD in the mid-1990s to 1.83 billion USD in 2009, an average annual increase of 15 percent.
Russia now has 55 investment projects in Vietnam totalling more than 300 million USD. However, this figure is relatively small for a large partner like Russia, one of the world’s 10 biggest economies with a population of more than 140 million people. Currently, Russia ranks 23 rd among the 91 countries and territories with investments in Vietnam .
Vietnam has 11 investment projects in Russia operating with a combined capital of 34 million USD in food processing, garment and textiles, footwear and timber processing.
Their joint venture in oil and gas and energy so far remains the most effective, generating considerable income for the two State budgets. Vietnam and Russia have signed a protocol on transforming Vietsovpetro joint venture enterprise into a two-member limited company after 2010 and establishing new JVs like Vietgazprom, Rusvietpetro and Gazpromviet.
The Republic of Kalmykia , which President Triet visits during this trip, is an oil producer with around 200,000-300,000 tonnes of crude oil and 50 million cu.m. of gas a year.
Vietnam and Belarus have a fine traditional friendship, and both countries want to enhance bilateral cooperation through the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation agreements. However, economic, trade and investment cooperation remains modest, although Belarus boasts a big potential in industry, agriculture, science, education and defence, ranking third among former Soviet Union republics.
Two-way trade recorded an annual increase of more than 50 percent during 2006-2008, but fell to 120 million USD in 2009 due to the impact of the global economic crisis. Seafood makes up 71 percent of Vietnam ’s export turnover to Belarus , and Kali fertiliser represents more than 85 percent of Vietnam ’s import turnover from Belarus . Vietnam also exports farm products, household utensils and garment and textiles to Belarus and imports motorbikes, trucks, tractors and accessories.
Being one of the first Western nations to establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam, Switzerland always ranks Vietnam in its priority list to receive its official development assistance and enjoy preferential trade status. Since 2003, Vietnam has registered substantial import surplus in its trade with Switzerland, buying in bulk gold, machinery and equipment, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, while exporting mainly footwear, seafood, coffee, textiles and garment, handbags, umbrellas and interior furniture. Switzerland now has 74 investment projects totalling around 1.43 billion USD, ranking 19th among 91 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
Since diplomatic ties with Vietnam were established in 1973, Finland has supported Vietnam in both the past embargo period and in the current wave of national development and construction.
Not only did Switzerland eradicate more than 40 million USD in debts for Vietnam , but it chooses Vietnam as one of eight countries to be long-term partners in development cooperation. At the Consultative Group Meeting 2009, Finland pledged a provision of 49.58 million USD to Vietnam in 2010, a 6.3 percent increase over 2008 and a record so far, bringing its total ODA for Vietnam to more than 400 million USD. Finnish preferential credits have been used in 14 projects in power and clean water supply and healthcare.
Although they remain modest, bilateral trade and investment relations are growing and are defined as Finland’s top priority field in its relationship with Vietnam.
During the Finnish President’s visit to Vietnam in February 2008, the two countries signed an agreement on investment protection and promotion which is an important legal foundation to facilitate future bilateral investment and trade ties.
Finland set up its Consulate General in HCM City in May 2008, and opened both the Finpro trade promotion agency office in HCM City in early 2009 and an honorary consulate in the central coastal city of Da Nang in February 2010 to meet the increasing needs of Finnish companies that are showing their interest in Vietnam.
According to recent surveys of the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, Vietnam is the second most sought-after Asian market after China for Finnish business interest.
President Triet’s tour also reflects the Vietnamese State’s wish to create more favourable conditions for the Vietnamese communities in the above countries. There are between 60,000-80,000 overseas Vietnamese in Russia and around 600 overseas Vietnamese in Belarus.
According to the Swiss Immigration Agency’s statistics, there are around 8,000 overseas Vietnamese in Switzerland . The Vietnamese community in Finland groups around 5,000 people./.
The President attended the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the victory over fascism in Moscow on May 8 and arrived in the Republic of Kalmykia of the Russian Federation for a visit from May 10-12. He then will also visit Belarus from May 13-16, Switzerland from May 16-19 and Finland from May 19-22.
These four countries have maintained traditional friendship and economic ties to Vietnam .
However, the cooperative relations between Vietnam and Russia, Belarus, Switzerland and Finland remain modest.
Among the four nations, Vietnam and Russia have established a strategic and comprehensive cooperative partnership. Two-way trade between Vietnam and Russia rose from between 350-400 million USD in the mid-1990s to 1.83 billion USD in 2009, an average annual increase of 15 percent.
Russia now has 55 investment projects in Vietnam totalling more than 300 million USD. However, this figure is relatively small for a large partner like Russia, one of the world’s 10 biggest economies with a population of more than 140 million people. Currently, Russia ranks 23 rd among the 91 countries and territories with investments in Vietnam .
Vietnam has 11 investment projects in Russia operating with a combined capital of 34 million USD in food processing, garment and textiles, footwear and timber processing.
Their joint venture in oil and gas and energy so far remains the most effective, generating considerable income for the two State budgets. Vietnam and Russia have signed a protocol on transforming Vietsovpetro joint venture enterprise into a two-member limited company after 2010 and establishing new JVs like Vietgazprom, Rusvietpetro and Gazpromviet.
The Republic of Kalmykia , which President Triet visits during this trip, is an oil producer with around 200,000-300,000 tonnes of crude oil and 50 million cu.m. of gas a year.
Vietnam and Belarus have a fine traditional friendship, and both countries want to enhance bilateral cooperation through the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation agreements. However, economic, trade and investment cooperation remains modest, although Belarus boasts a big potential in industry, agriculture, science, education and defence, ranking third among former Soviet Union republics.
Two-way trade recorded an annual increase of more than 50 percent during 2006-2008, but fell to 120 million USD in 2009 due to the impact of the global economic crisis. Seafood makes up 71 percent of Vietnam ’s export turnover to Belarus , and Kali fertiliser represents more than 85 percent of Vietnam ’s import turnover from Belarus . Vietnam also exports farm products, household utensils and garment and textiles to Belarus and imports motorbikes, trucks, tractors and accessories.
Being one of the first Western nations to establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam, Switzerland always ranks Vietnam in its priority list to receive its official development assistance and enjoy preferential trade status. Since 2003, Vietnam has registered substantial import surplus in its trade with Switzerland, buying in bulk gold, machinery and equipment, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, while exporting mainly footwear, seafood, coffee, textiles and garment, handbags, umbrellas and interior furniture. Switzerland now has 74 investment projects totalling around 1.43 billion USD, ranking 19th among 91 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
Since diplomatic ties with Vietnam were established in 1973, Finland has supported Vietnam in both the past embargo period and in the current wave of national development and construction.
Not only did Switzerland eradicate more than 40 million USD in debts for Vietnam , but it chooses Vietnam as one of eight countries to be long-term partners in development cooperation. At the Consultative Group Meeting 2009, Finland pledged a provision of 49.58 million USD to Vietnam in 2010, a 6.3 percent increase over 2008 and a record so far, bringing its total ODA for Vietnam to more than 400 million USD. Finnish preferential credits have been used in 14 projects in power and clean water supply and healthcare.
Although they remain modest, bilateral trade and investment relations are growing and are defined as Finland’s top priority field in its relationship with Vietnam.
During the Finnish President’s visit to Vietnam in February 2008, the two countries signed an agreement on investment protection and promotion which is an important legal foundation to facilitate future bilateral investment and trade ties.
Finland set up its Consulate General in HCM City in May 2008, and opened both the Finpro trade promotion agency office in HCM City in early 2009 and an honorary consulate in the central coastal city of Da Nang in February 2010 to meet the increasing needs of Finnish companies that are showing their interest in Vietnam.
According to recent surveys of the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, Vietnam is the second most sought-after Asian market after China for Finnish business interest.
President Triet’s tour also reflects the Vietnamese State’s wish to create more favourable conditions for the Vietnamese communities in the above countries. There are between 60,000-80,000 overseas Vietnamese in Russia and around 600 overseas Vietnamese in Belarus.
According to the Swiss Immigration Agency’s statistics, there are around 8,000 overseas Vietnamese in Switzerland . The Vietnamese community in Finland groups around 5,000 people./.
