Two-way trade rpse from US$175 million in 2007 to $1.3 billion in 2012 - and $2.1 billion in 2013.— VNA/VNS Photo Vu Sinh

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam, with a young population and increasingly wealthy and growing middle class, was a potential market of 90-million customers, said Thomas Loidl, Austrian Ambassador to Viet Nam during a Austria-Viet Nam business meeting in Ha Noi yesterday.

Thirteen Austrian energy and environmental companies attended the meeting to learn more about the market and seek potential partners.

Economic and trade co-operation between the two countries have grown considerably in recent years. Two-way trade rpse from US$175 million in 2007 to $1.3 billion in 2012 - and $2.1 billion in 2013.

However, the results were considered low compared with the potential, said Doan Duy Khuong, vice-chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

He said Viet Nam would be a gateway for Austrian companies to access the wider ASEAN market, particularly when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) comes into being next year.

Therefore, the market could grow from Viet Nam's 90 million to a total of about 600 million in ASEAN, Khuong added.

He said the Viet Nam Government was trying to complete the country's legal regulatory framework and develop better market mechanisms to create favorable condition for companies to come to Viet Nam, inclu7ding Austria.

The business meeting is held by the VCCI, the Austrian Embassy and Advantage Austria in Ha Noi and HCM city every year to create good conditions for Vietnamese and Austrian companies to develop trade.

Khuong said that the VCCI was willing to co-operate with trade promotion agencies in other countries to organise similar events. — VNS