Viet Nam creates favourable conditions for Dutch businesses: PM Chinh
Viet Nam creates favourable conditions for Dutch businesses: PM Chinh
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said Viet Nam always creates favourable conditions and actively supports Dutch businesses to trust and invest in the country when he visited the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Sunday (local time).
Within the framework of his official visit, Chinh worked with the president of the Netherlands Owners Federation (VNO-NCW), visited Heineken Global Group in Amsterdam and held talks with some of the leading Dutch businesses.
Chinh congratulated VNO-NCW’s president Ingrid Thijssen on her leading role in the organisation, representing about 160 associations and 115,000 member businesses, including more than 80 per cent of Dutch medium-sized enterprises and the majority of large corporations.
Thijssen appreciated Viet Nam's efforts to improve the business environment; proposed to promote and strengthen economic, investment and trade cooperation between the Netherlands and Viet Nam in areas such as logistics, high-tech agriculture, food and seaports.
Chinh, in response, appreciated the role of VNO-NCW in promoting and supporting Dutch businesses and corporations to invest and do business in Viet Nam.
Up to now, the Netherlands is the largest investor from the European Union (EU) in Viet Nam and ranks 8th out of 141 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam with 409 valid projects, and total capital registered US$13.7 billion.
Chinh said the Netherlands plays an important role both as a large export market for Viet Nam and as an important gateway to transship Viet Nam's goods into the country. The EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has opened up great opportunities for businesses of the two sides to expand economic cooperation.
He suggested that VNO-NCW continue to act as a bridge to promote Dutch businesses to invest in Viet Nam, especially in the fields of high technology, innovation, digital transformation, green energy, clean and sustainable agriculture, infrastructure, and logistics.
He also wanted the organisation to help Vietnamese enterprises participate in regional and global supply chains. At the same time, he said: “The Vietnamese government is committed to always creating favourable conditions and actively supporting Dutch businesses to trust and invest in long-term business in Viet Nam.”
Meeting Heineken Group, one of the world's oldest and largest beer manufacturing and trading enterprises in Amsterdam, Chinh appreciated the effective cooperation and business activities of the joint venture Heineken - Saigon Trading Corporation (SATRA) over the past 30 years, welcoming Heineken's sustainable development strategy, applying circular economy to Heineken's business model in Viet Nam.
SATRA was established in 1991 as one of the first foreign enterprises to invest in Viet Nam in the field of beer production and distribution. To date, it operates six factories with more than 3,000 direct employees and creating more than 150,000 indirect jobs.
At the meeting, leaders of Heineken Global reported on the Group's business investment and development plans in Viet Nam, saying up to now, Heineken's investment in Viet Nam has reached $1 billion and in the next ten years, it is expected to invest another $500 million.
Chinh said Viet Nam encouraged enterprises to minimise water and energy consumption, promote waste recycling, and suggested that Heineken continue to use modern, advanced and sustainable technologies in the process of investment and business, and continue to contribute to social security and environmental protection in Viet Nam.
Chinh told the group: “The Vietnamese Government is committed to accompanying and supporting Heineken in expanding investment and business activities.”
He would direct agencies to study and consider Heineken's proposal on tax policy, affirming that Viet Nam will continue to improve tax policy in the spirit of "harmonious benefits, shared risks."
On the afternoon of the same day, the PM had a seminar to answer the concerns of some leading Dutch enterprises.
Leaders of Boskalis Maritime Group said Viet Nam could become a leading maritime transshipment centre. It is recommended to study and establish a legal framework for sustainable marine sand mining, adding Boskalis could provide policy advice in this area.
At the seminar, Arnout Damen, CEO of Damen Shipyards Gorinchem, announced that he plans to invest an additional $100 million in shipbuilding in Viet Nam, and wants to support Viet Nam in developing a transport system that reduces carbon emissions.
Maarten de Vries, Director of AkzoNobel Paint Group, mentioned intellectual property issues and investment in logistics, and said he was ready to accompany Viet Nam in implementing the goals to respond to climate change.
Chinh said to achieve the goal of net zero emissions by 2050, in developing renewable energy, Viet Nam needed the support of the international community in terms of capital, technology, human resource training, governance, and institutional building and improvement.
The PM said Viet Nam would follow sustainable and ecological agriculture with modern rural areas and civilised farmers as agriculture was the backbone of Viet Nam's economy, helping Viet Nam to ensure a large balance of food, contributing to controlling inflation, and exporting about 7 million tonnes of rice and $50 billion of agricultural products this year.
With a coastline of 3,260km, Viet Nam wished to cooperate with the Netherlands to build seaports, contributing to realising the goal of turning Viet Nam into an international logistics and transshipment centre, Chinh said, adding he welcomed Dutch investors to develop rooftop solar power in Viet Nam
Regarding human resources, the PM said Viet Nam was making efforts to improve human resources, and foster talents with specific policies, suggesting that Dutch businesses work with Vietnamese universities on human resource training.
He informed investors about anti-transfer pricing policies, avoiding double taxation, and protecting intellectual property and asked investors to accompany and support Viet Nam in these areas.
Chinh also announced the orientation to bring the cooperation relationship between Viet Nam and the Netherlands mainly from a development partnership to mutually beneficial cooperation.
