Vietnam is now an important focus for global information and communications technology (ICT) companies that are making efforts to increase their presence in the Southeast Asian region, according to telecom experts.

Thirty businesses working in ICT from the Republic of Korea attended a forum on Oct. 6 to seek cooperation opportunities with Vietnamese partners.

In late September, eight French businesses also met with representatives of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group and Vietnam ’s military-run telecom provider Viettel – two major names in the Vietnamese telecom sector – to establish trade partnerships in the near future.

In another move, Taiwanese businesses hosted a large-scale Taiwan Excellence programme 2011 in Hanoi in mid-July to popularise advances and innovation of the Taiwanese IT sector and to seek potential domestic partners.

In addition to being an investment destination, Vietnam also saw its businesses chosen as partners for IT projects abroad, evidenced by the fact that Algerian Minister of Post, Telecommunication and Communications Moussa Banhamadi proposed CMC Technology Group establish a joint venture to deploy a project on computerising education programmes and developing e-government in the African country./.