Twenty-four Spanish companies will visit Vietnam to seek partners and investment opportunities at the Vietnam-Spain Investment and Business Cooperation Forum 2010 from November 23-24.
The Investment forum is organised by the Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy and the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Center .
Speaking at a press conference on Nov. 4 in HCM City, Alberto Cerdan, Spanish economic and commercial counselor in HCM City, said the companies were selected by the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade.
The companies are involved in architecture and urban consultancy, agriculture, automotive components, electronic systems and energy and construction, as well as engineering, fashion retail, metallurgy, footwear, technological services, textiles and water treatment.
The forum is a platform that allows Vietnamese and Spanish companies to start joint ventures, invest in new enterprises, draw up technology-transfer agreements, create franchises or sign outsourcing agreements.
He said Spanish companies are not familiar with Southeast Asia, having previously focused on European and North African markets.
Cerdan said that Vietnam has inexpensive labour costs and a favourable business environment, which will attract more foreign investment.
At least 250 Vietnamese companies are expected to join the forum and become partners of Spanish companies.
He said that he believed that Spanish companies' market share in the Vietnamese market would increase in the coming years.
Total bilateral trade between the countries reached 1.4 billion USD last year, a fall of 17 percent compared to 2008 due to the global financial crisis.
Vietnam's exports to Spain totalled 1.275 billion USD while its imports reached 159 million USD.
In the first seven months of this year, bilateral trade reached 650 million USD, a 6 percent increase from last year.
The figure has been modest, and he hoped it would increase further when a free trade agreement between Europe and Vietnam is signed.
The main exports from Vietnam to Spain are shoes, garments, coffee, seafood, aquaculture products and furniture.
Spain exports to Vietnam include chemical and pharmaceutical products, steel, electrical machinery, machine tools, leather and tiles./.
The Investment forum is organised by the Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy and the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Center .
Speaking at a press conference on Nov. 4 in HCM City, Alberto Cerdan, Spanish economic and commercial counselor in HCM City, said the companies were selected by the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade.
The companies are involved in architecture and urban consultancy, agriculture, automotive components, electronic systems and energy and construction, as well as engineering, fashion retail, metallurgy, footwear, technological services, textiles and water treatment.
The forum is a platform that allows Vietnamese and Spanish companies to start joint ventures, invest in new enterprises, draw up technology-transfer agreements, create franchises or sign outsourcing agreements.
He said Spanish companies are not familiar with Southeast Asia, having previously focused on European and North African markets.
Cerdan said that Vietnam has inexpensive labour costs and a favourable business environment, which will attract more foreign investment.
At least 250 Vietnamese companies are expected to join the forum and become partners of Spanish companies.
He said that he believed that Spanish companies' market share in the Vietnamese market would increase in the coming years.
Total bilateral trade between the countries reached 1.4 billion USD last year, a fall of 17 percent compared to 2008 due to the global financial crisis.
Vietnam's exports to Spain totalled 1.275 billion USD while its imports reached 159 million USD.
In the first seven months of this year, bilateral trade reached 650 million USD, a 6 percent increase from last year.
The figure has been modest, and he hoped it would increase further when a free trade agreement between Europe and Vietnam is signed.
The main exports from Vietnam to Spain are shoes, garments, coffee, seafood, aquaculture products and furniture.
Spain exports to Vietnam include chemical and pharmaceutical products, steel, electrical machinery, machine tools, leather and tiles./.
