(MPI Portal) – On January 20th, at the headquarter of Ministry of Planning and Investment, Minister Bui Quang Vinh had a meeting with Mr. Johan Vande Lanotte, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium. Attending the meeting, there were Mr. Bruno Angelet, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belgium in Vietnam, and representatives of agencies from Belgium and Vietnam.

Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)

Welcoming the visit of Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium to Vietnam, Minister Bui Quang Vinh affirmed that economic relation between Vietnam and Belgium has been constantly evolving. Bilateral trade increased by 70% in period 2003-2011. Belgium is the largest European trade partner of Vietnam with total value of trade between the two countries currently amounting to 1.2 billion Euro per year. Value trade constantly increased over the years shows that trade cooperation is growing more and more between the two countries.

Regarding investment cooperation, the two countries have developed many intergovernmental meetings, particularly the signing of Vietnam – Luxembourg Indicative Cooperation Programme (ICP) 2011-2015 have resulted in extremely practical effectiveness. Belgium and the EU has provided great amount of ODA, especially non-refundable aid for Vietnam, contributing to socio-economic development, human resource development and supporting in governance, water resource management and coping with climate change in Vietnam.

Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh. Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)

The Minister said that in the coming time, the two countries could cooperate to invest in industries which are advantage of Belgium such as transport, mechanics, metallurgy with high technology for which Vietnam has great demand. In addition, the Minister also expected Belgium to further share experiences and support Vietnam in the fields of green growth, sustainable development, coping with climate change.

As introduced by Mr. Johan Vande Lanotte, Belgium is located in central Europe with many ports, in which Anvers is the second largest port of Europe, with large scale and modern infrastructure, high productive human resources. Once the Free Trade Agreement of Vietnam and EU is signed in 2014, Belgium will become gateway for Vietnamese goods to enter European market, approaching 230 million consumers in 750 kilometers radius.

Moreover, with advantage of large port-owned country, Belgian enterprises have ability to directly participate in projects of seaport infrastructure development in Vietnam; supporting Vietnamese businesses in technology and experience in building model of the port authority; port management and exploitation, as well as development of synchronistic and modern logistics services in Vietnam.

Mr. Johan Vande Lanotte, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium. Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)

Regarding to Belgian investment projects into Vietnam such as small satellite VNREDSat-1B, project of Phu Ly pump station, Dinh Vu Industrial Zone (Hai Phong)… Minister Bui Quang Vinh said that though the values are not high, there are practical significance and high effectiveness, contributing to help Vietnam attract FDI. By 2013, Dinh Vu Industrial Zone has attracted 52 projects worth US$2.2 billion. Dinh Vu became the location of factories and distribution centers of 11 Japanese investors.

Besides, the Minister also highly appreciated the projects of coping with climate change funded by Belgium. The programme consists of two projects as follows: Project of Green Growth Supporting Fund with total budget of 5 million euros, Project of Water Resource Management and Urban Development in relation to climate change in three provinces namely Ha Tinh, Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan with a total budget of 25 million euros, which aim to green growth target, reducing the impact of climate change, towards low carbon development and sustainable urban planning.

On behalf of the leadership of the Ministry, the Minister pledged to continue good cooperation with the Kingdom of Belgium and Belgian Embassy to remove the difficulties in order to promote investment projects, obtaining the highest results, bringing the cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium to be growth and strong./.

Nguyen Huong

MPI Portal