HA NOI — Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem has pledged to create favourable conditions for German companies to make long-term and effective investments in Viet Nam and penetrate the Southeast Asian market.
Khiem, who doubles as Minister of Foreign Affairs, made the commitment at talks and meetings with German leaders and business executives during his official three-day visit to Germany that finished on Wednesday.
While in Germany, Khiem paid a courtesy call on President Christian Wulff, held talks with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle, and received the Secretary of State of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Governor of the State of Hessen.
The deputy PM visited the States of Hessen and Bavaria and also attended celebrations of the 65th anniversary of Viet Nam's National Day and the 35th anniversary of Viet Nam-Germany diplomatic relations in Berlin and Frankfurt. He participated in a seminar designed to promote German investment flow into energy and infrastructure projects in Viet Nam and met with a number of leading German economic groups.
Khiem inaugurated the new headquarters of the Vietnamese Consulate General in Frankfurt and met with overseas Vietnamese living there.
During the meetings, German leaders praised the progress Viet Nam has made during the renewal process, especially its deeper international integration and high GDP growth in recent years despite the adverse impacts of the global economic crisis.
According to officials, Viet Nam has become an emerging and important economy in the region and gained an increasingly important position in the international arena.
They applauded Khiem's visit to Germany, which took place at a time when the two countries are celebrating 35 years of their diplomatic ties and jointly organising "Vietnamese Year in Germany " and "German Year in Viet Nam " under the sponsorship of their heads of state.
Both sides highly valued the strong development of the bilateral friendship and multi-faceted co-operation, particularly since Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited Germany in March 2008. The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of visits in 2011, including those by top leaders, to create a momentum for co-operative relations in all fields.
Both host and guest noted with pleasure the rapid and steady growth of economic, trade and investment ties. Germany has emerged as the biggest trade partner in Viet Nam from the European Union (EU), with two-way trade value reaching almost US$4 billion last year.
Close to 200 German enterprises including giant firms such as Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Metro Cash & Carry, Deutsche Telekom, BMW, Mercedes and Audi, have operated in Viet Nam.
Leaders of the German government and business community thanked the Vietnamese government for its support of German investors that has helped them carry out a number of energy and infrastructure projects, such as the HCM City metro route No 2.
They expressed their hope that German enterprises would be able to continue engaging in key infrastructure projects in the form of public-private partnership in Viet Nam in the years to come.
Khiem thanked Germany for its provision of official development assistance (ODA), especially its decision to increase ODA for Viet Nam in recent years although the European nation is still facing economic difficulties.
He stressed that German ODA has been effectively used in prioritised areas such as hunger eradication, poverty reduction, healthcare, environmental protection, human resources development and vocational training, thereby contributing remarkably to Viet Nam's socio-economic development.
The two sides agreed for education and training to be prioritised as a field of co-operation that should be stepped up in the future. The German hosts applauded the establishment of the Viet Nam-Germany University in HCM City, describing it as an important project between the two nations. They agreed to work together to expand the pilot teaching of German in secondary schools and carry out a German-funded project to build a large-scale vocational training centre in the north of Viet Nam. Bilateral co-operation at international forums, especially in the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the EU will also be boosted. — VNS
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