Executives from around 20 companies in Eastern Germany met with authorities from five southern and central Vietnamese cities and provinces with the largest amount of German investment on Friday to explore investment opportunities.

They are in the country along with the visiting German Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Iris Gleicke.

“The visit of … Gleicke to Viet Nam has promoted relations between the two nations, and this is a good chance for Vietnamese localities to introduce themselves to German investors,” Dr Nguyen Hoang Long, director of the Department of Foreign Affairs for Provinces, said.

“Germany is the biggest trade partner of Viet Nam in Europe and Viet Nam would like to become the biggest trade partner of Germany in Southeast Asia.

Gleicke said: “Germany and Viet Nam have had many open political discussions. I highly appreciate this morning’s roundtable because our enterprises from Eastern Germany had a unique experience in transitioning from a centrally-planned economy to a market economy.

“Our Eastern enterprises are very famous for their high-tech, wastewater treatment, air treatment and environmental pollution reduction technology.

“We recognise that Viet Nam has a very special geographic position and if our enterprises can enter Viet Nam, we can enter the rest of South East Asia.”

Marko Walde, chief representative of the Delegate of German Industry and Commerce Viet Nam, said: “German businesspersons would like to know about investment procedures in Viet Nam and this roundtable is the best place to provide such information.”

Peter Alltschekow, managing director of Eastern Germany, German Trade and Invest, the German Government’s economic development agency, said: “This is the fourth time Eastern German enterprises are coming to Viet Nam. We need to meet localities, local enterprises … and we hope this visit will open new opportunities for German enterprises.”

At the roundtable, HCM City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Long An, and Da Nang highlighted their investment opportunities to the visitors.

An official from the HCM City Department of Planning and Investment told them how to set up a foreign business in Viet Nam. A Da Nang labour official spoke about procedures for obtaining a work permit for foreigners in Viet Nam. A Long An Province official spoke about import/export procedures.

Earlier on Thursday, the vice chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem had met Gleicke.

Around 100,000 Vietnamese live in Germany while another 100,000 Vietnamese can speak German.

Germany has invested around US$1 billion in Viet Nam, with 90 per cent being concentrated in the southern region. – VNS