Vietnamese investment workshop held in Indonesia

A workshop on investment and business opportunities in Vietnam was organised by the Vietnamese Embassy and Commercial Affair Office in Indonesia on December 7.

The workshop, held at the Vietnamese Embassy in Jakarta , attracted the participation of delegates from 60 Indonesian businesses and foreign investors in Indonesia .

Addressing the workshop, Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia , highlighted the development of traditional and friendly cooperation between the two Governments and peoples.

He affirmed that during PM Nguyen Tan Dung’s official visit to Jakarta last year, the two countries’ leaders agreed to raise bilateral cooperation to a strategic partnership with the target of reaching two-way trade turnover of 5 billion USD by 2015.

The diplomat presented Vietnam ’s achievements in the past years. Vietnam ’s policies and efforts that encourage investment and improve the business environment help the country become one of the most attractive, effective and reliable destinations, he said.

Vietnam ’s economic growth rate is high, and it has become the top exporter of rice, pepper and aquatic products. These achievements carry a number of opportunities for both domestic and foreign investors.

Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Indonesia reached 3.7 billion USD in 2011 and is estimated to hit 4.5 billion USD this year, and is likely to reach the target of 5 billion USD before 2015.

However, Indonesian business investment in Vietnam is modest; at 243 million USD it is considerably less than some other ASEAN members - including Singapore , Thailand and Malaysia .

At the workshop, Juan Gondokusumo, Chairman of the Committee of Economic Coordination between Vienam-Indonesia (Indonesian Chamber of Commerce), expressed his admiration at Vietnam ’s economic achievements, in particular the country’s business activities, rapid market transformation, success in alleviating hunger and poverty, ensuring food security, and surpassing Thailand as the world’s top rice exporter.

He affirmed that Indonesian businesses highly value the Vietnamese Government’s policies on facilitating investment, administrative reform and its business environment. Their firms are willing to increase direct information exchanges between the two countries’ businesses, he added.