A business delegation has flown to Austria to participate in a workshop on attracting investment for Vietnam's supporting industries.

The workshop was coorganised on April 8by the Commercial Office of the Vietnamese Embassy in Austria, the Austrian Economic Chambers (WKO) and the Association of the Austrian Electrical and Electronics Industries.

The workshop helped enterprises from both countries further their understandings about each other's advantages and seek partnerships in the supporting industry sector.

Vietnam has become Austria's second largest export and import market, following Thailand, since last year.

Austrian import turnover of Vietnamese commodities was 550.3 million euro (586 million USD) last year. Imports consisted of garment and textiles, footwear and smart phones from Vietnam. Austria exported mechanics, electronics and health devices to Vietnam, making a turnover of 159.3 million EUR.

Hans-Jorg Hortnagl, WKO Regional Director for South and Southeast Asia, said that Vietnam and Austria's cooperation potential is large. Over the past few years, Vietnam has become one of the most important partners for Austria in the ASEAN region.

Hans-Jorg attributed the growth in bilateral trade to three causes. The first being the large number of Austrian companies in China. Now that Chinese market is becoming more expensive, many Austrian companies might move to Vietnam in the future.
Secondly, Vietnam is an important partner in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which will be established at the end of this year. Vietnam's market will be even more attractive as it becomes a manufacturing centre for ASEAN countries as well as other Asian and European countries.

Thirdly, the free trade agreement between the European Union and Vietnam will be a foundation for the further cooperation between Vietnam and Austria.-VNA