Addressing the event, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel underlined that Vietnam is an important partner of Luxembourg in many aspects, and one of the countries in which his country invests great resources to promote partnership with. Meanwhile, Luxembourg is an important partner and a gateway for Vietnam to the EU, he said.
Vietnam is becoming one of the most dynamic economies in the region and the world, he noted, holding that economy, trade and investment have always been promising and prioritised areas in the ties between the two countries.
The Luxemburg leader said that the forum is a good chance for the business communities of both sides to exchange information and contribute to the effective economic cooperation between the two countries in the future.
For his part, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said that over the past 50 years, Vietnam and Luxembourg have enjoyed growing friendship and expanding trade and investment partnership.
Vietnam is the eighth largest trade partner of Luxembourg outside the EU, while Luxembourg is Vietnam’s third largest EU investor.
Two-way trade has tripled over the recent five years. In the first three months of this year, the figure increased 8.2% year on year even amid the global economic downturn, he said, stressing that in the face of difficulties and challenges ahead, Vietnam and Luxembourg should work more closely together, especially in trade and investment, thus enhancing the resilience of each economy.
The two sides also boast high potential in beefing up their trade ties as the export product structures of the two countries can supplement each other, which is a good condition for businesses of the two countries to build and reinforce their partnership, especially in trading of products of each other’s strengths and demands, said the minister.
According to him, Vietnam can export garments, leather and footwear, furniture, tropical farm produce, and aquatic products to Luxembourg and import chemicals, rubber, plastic products, steels, financial, banking and insurance services from the European country.
Highlighting partnership opportunities between the two business communities, Vo Tan Thanh, Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said that as of March, Luxembourg had invested in 61 projects in Vietnam with total capital of 2.6 billion USD, ranking third among 24 EU member countries and 17 out of 139 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
He expressed hope that Luxembourg, with its strengths in services, finance, banking towards green, digital and circular trends, will share experience and cooperate with Vietnam in these fields.
According to Thanh, despite the impressive growth in trade and investment cooperation between the two countries recently, it has yet to match the cooperation potential between the two countries that share many strategic similarities.
Thanh suggested that the two sides coordinate more closely in removing obstacles and barriers hindering their trade relations, including speeding up the approval of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and the removal of the “yellow card” against Vietnam’s seafood products.
Businesses and investors of the two countries should also work harder to explore each other’s market through official channels to seek partnership opportunities, he said.
Tourism is also a promising cooperation area for the two sides, as Vietnam is in need of human resources training for tourism sector, Thanh added.
At the forum, the VCCI and the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, and a number of businesses of the two countries signed their memorandum of understanding on their cooperation, paving the way for the expansion of the economic, trade and investment partnership between Vietnam and Luxembourg in the future.
