Minister receives German business delegation

On April 28, 2023, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien received a German business delegation led by former Vice Chancellor of Germany Philipp Rösler.

The German delegation’s visit to Vietnam aims to seek investment opportunities and business cooperation in the fields of e-commerce and new materials.

In the context of global economic instability, German businesses still consider Vietnam as one of the most potential and reliable investment markets in Asia (after China and India).

To further strengthen bilateral cooperation, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien proposed Mr. Rösler, with his prestige and influence in Germany and the European Union, continue to support Vietnam in its relations with the EU. The two sides need to strengthen cooperation between the German states and the ministries, sectors and localities of Vietnam.

In addition, the Minister also asked the German side continue to support the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in the energy sector to realize the Joint Statement on Energy Cooperation between the MoIT and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany signed on November 13, 2022.

The potential for Vietnam - Germany cooperation in the industrial sector is huge. The Vietnamese government has issued many preferential and supportive policies for supporting industry enterprises in Vietnam, including the industries that Germany has strengths such as electronics, automobile manufacturing and assembly, mechanical engineering, etc.. Therefore, Minister Dien suggested that German enterprises expand production and investment into Vietnam to take full advantage of those incentives.

For their part, Mr. Roesler and the German businesses highly appreciated Vietnam, considering Vietnam as the leading dynamic and potential market in Southeast Asia. They wished to cooperate and invest in companies in Vietnam in specific fields like building e-commerce platforms and providing new materials in construction and manufacturing.

Given the impressive growth of two-way trade between Vietnam and Germany since the implementation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the growing number of German businesses doing business in Vietnam continues to be the premise to develop practical cooperation relationship in many related fields, and is a bright spot in the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two sides.

According to statistics of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the total two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Germany in 2022 reached US$12.6 billion, up 12.1 percent compared to 2021, of which exports reached US$8.9 billion up 23.1 percent, and imports at US$3.6 billion, down 8.2 percent. The key export items were machinery and equipment, telephones, footwear, textiles, coffee, seafood...while the imports included machinery, equipment, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, auto parts and components...

By the end of March 2023, the total import-export turnover of the two countries reached nearly US$2.7 billion, down 10.3 percent over the same period last year. In March 2023, Vietnam's exports to Germany reached nearly US$1.9 billion, down 11 percent; and the import turnover from Germany reached about US$799.9 million, a 8.6 percent decrease compared to March 2022.

Source: Vietnam Economic News