General Secretary and President: Vietnam always welcomes Irish businesses to expand cooperation

General Secretary and President To Lam hopes that Irish enterprises will pay attention to and support Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the value chain and carry out effective and sustainable business investment activities.

General Secretary and President To Lam speaks. (Photo: Tri Dung/VNA)

According to the special correspondent of VNA, within the framework of the State visit to Ireland, on the morning of October 3, in the capital Dublin, General Secretary and President To Lam and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation meet Irish businesses.

This activity is organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam in coordination with the Embassy of Vietnam in the UK, concurrently Ireland, the Irish Enterprise Organization under the Government of Ireland and the Dublin City Chamber of Commerce.

The Chairman, General Director, and leaders of 15 of Ireland's largest corporations expressed their interest and investment in Vietnam, focusing on four key and potential areas of cooperation including: high technology, agriculture, industry-energy, and healthcare.

In an open and friendly atmosphere, at the meeting, representatives of Irish corporations and enterprises shared information about investment and business projects that have been and are being implemented, as well as ideas that they hope to implement in the coming time in Vietnam, and made recommendations on ways to improve the effectiveness of investment and business cooperation between the two countries.

Speaking at the meeting, General Secretary, President To Lam appreciated the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Embassy of Vietnam in the UK, concurrently Ireland, for coordinating with Irish business organizations to organize meetings with businesses.

Irish businesses attend the meeting. (Photo: Tri Dung/ VNA)

Through the exchange of Irish businesses, the General Secretary and President was pleased to see that many Irish businesses have had effective investment projects and achieved certain successes in many fields, in a number of localities of Vietnam.

General Secretary and President To Lam shared his feelings about the energy and enthusiasm of the Irish business community in their determination to promote business, trade and investment cooperation with Vietnam in the coming time; and noted that the current number of 41 FDI projects with a capital of 60.82 million USD from Ireland in Vietnam is still modest compared to the potential of the two countries.

General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized that over the past four decades, Vietnam has continuously made efforts to innovate, open up and integrate. From a backward economy, Vietnam has risen to be among the Top 40 leading economies, with a trade scale in the Top 20 in the world, an important link in the international supply chain with 16 Free Trade Agreements, including the Vietnam-European Union Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) of which Ireland is a member.

Vietnam is one of the few economies capable of maintaining a high Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate over many years, even during difficult times for the world economy due to epidemics or trade and geopolitical conflicts.

In fact, GDP in 2023 reached over 430 billion USD, growing 5.05% and is expected to reach 6.0-6.5% in 2024.

Vietnam's investment environment is constantly improving, continuing to receive positive assessments from the international community and investors regarding its growth prospects and business environment.

Vietnam is becoming a safe and attractive investment destination with the presence of investors from 141 countries and territories, with more than 40,500 projects, total registered capital reaching more than 484.7 billion USD. Vietnam has been included in the list of Top 20 countries attracting FDI in the world.

After nearly 30 years of establishing diplomatic relations, the cooperative and friendly relationship between Vietnam and Ireland has achieved many important achievements and has been increasingly consolidated and strengthened in all fields.

Regarding trade and economy, trade turnover between the two countries has increased 2.5 times in just the past 6 years despite fluctuations in the global economy in recent times.

Ireland is Vietnam’s sixth largest trading partner and second largest import market in the European Union. The two countries aim to increase bilateral trade to $5 billion in a more equitable and sustainable manner by 2026, when the two countries celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations.

General Secretary and President To Lam stated that Vietnam is standing at a new historical starting point, a new era - the era of national growth.

Vietnam advocates effectively exploiting opportunities brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution to promote the process of growth model innovation, economic restructuring associated with implementing strategic breakthroughs and modernizing the country; strongly developing the digital economy; developing rapidly and sustainably based on science-technology, innovation and high-quality human resources.

With the above long-term vision, Vietnam aims to selectively attract investment towards developing digital economy, green economy, circular economy, and knowledge economy.

Specifically, priority is given to projects in high technology, electronics, semiconductors, innovation, renewable energy, new energy (hydrogen), biotechnology, healthcare, international financial centers, modern trade and services, infrastructure construction, and research and development activities.

In the face of new contexts and opportunities, General Secretary and President To Lam said that the potential for cooperation between the two countries is still very rich and needs to be further promoted due to the abundant internal strength of each side as well as the vitality of the new era, the era of scientific and technological revolution, of deep connection and integration around the world.

Suggesting some cooperation orientations in the coming time, General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized that Vietnam hopes that Irish enterprises, with their capacity and resources, will continue to invest more strongly in Vietnam.

For enterprises that have implemented projects in Vietnam, encourage enterprises to expand cooperation projects. For companies that are researching and studying investment in Vietnam, we hope that companies will prioritize and choose Vietnam as a strategic destination for investment and construction of facilities, on the one hand providing manufactured products for the domestic market, on the other hand, being able to take advantage of incentives from the existing system of free trade agreements of Vietnam to export to markets in the region and the world.

General Secretary and President To Lam affirmed that Vietnam always welcomes and appreciates Irish businesses expanding cooperation.

General Secretary and President To Lam attended the meeting. (Photo: Tri Dung/VNA)

Regarding the specific recommendations of Irish businesses, General Secretary and President To Lam affirmed that Vietnamese agencies always accompany, are ready to share, and create all favorable conditions for foreign businesses, including Irish businesses, to invest and do business effectively, contributing to the socio-economic development of the two countries.

General Secretary and President To Lam hopes that Irish enterprises will pay attention to and support Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the value chain; carry out investment and business activities with the spirit of efficiency, sustainability, high social responsibility, environmental protection, actively contributing to socio-economic development and a strong, comprehensive transformation strategy, focusing on digital transformation, green transformation and global governance transformation of Vietnam.

With the joint efforts of both sides, we will continue to reap more success in the future, together moving towards a stable, prosperous and sustainable development future between the two countries.

Source