DPM greets Portuguese enterprises

The event was hosted by VinaCapital and Portuguese enterprises in Lisbon. The leading Portuguguese enterprises included Expand Capital and ASK (in financial sector); SFMS (in retail sales), Jose de Mello (in investment and infrastructure management); PortoBay (in tourism); and Queroz Pereina (renewable energy).  

Addressing the reception, Deputy PM Hue said that the Party and State of Viet Nam are pursuing consistent policy of international association and integration, attaching importance to the private economic sector in favor of sustainable growth. Over the past year, the Vietnamese Government has transformed economic mechanisms; built the Government of integrity, action, serving businesses and people, and regarded the private sector as an important dirver of the economy. 

Last year, the domestic economy bounced back with record economic indicators including over 130,000 newly-established enterprises, over US$ 30 billion of FDI, 13 million foreign tourists, and over US$ 420 billion of export turnover. The World Economic Forum (WEF) and the World Bank (WB) raised Viet Nam’s ratings in national competitiveness and business environment indexes. 

Viet Nam also attaches importance to FTAs with partners and is proactively pushing negotiations for the early singing of new FTAs including the EU-Viet Nam FTA. 

The Deputy PM urged Portuguese groups and businesses to beef up cooperation with Viet Nam on their fields of strength. 

Portuguese investors also enjoyed vast opportunities to make inroads into  the broader ASEAN markets and other markets via FTAs to which Viet Nam is a signatory. 

The same day, Vietnamese Deputy PM Hue met with Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Augusto Santos Silva and delivered a speech at the Viet Nam - Portugal Business Dialogue which gathered about 50 leading firms from the both sides. 

At the meeting, the two expressed their pleasure at the recent development of the two countries’ relations, following the visits to Portugal by former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in June, 2015 and Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh in May last year.  

They agreed that Vietnam and Portugal should further bolster bilateral ties in economics, trade, investment, education and cultural exchange. 

The two governments need to facilitate their enterprises to make inroads into each other’s markets and invest in the two nations’ areas of strength, Hue said.

He asked Portugal to push for the early signing of the EVFTA which can act as a catalyst for the Vietnam-Portugal economic relations to grow further.

The Portuguese FM spoke highly of Vietnam’s robust economic growth and affirmed his country’s support gor the early signing of the EVFTA. 

The Portuguese government wishes and is ready to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese firms to do business in the country./.

By Kim Loan