On the afternoon of May 20, the Department of Foreign Affairs had a meeting with the delegation of the German Industry and Commerce (AHK) in Vietnam, representative agency for the Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection of Germany in Vietnam is led by Mr. Marko Walde - Chief Representative to learn about the investment environment in the province.

Working with the delegation is Mr. Tran Khanh Thuc - Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs; representatives of leaders of relevant departments and branches.

Overview of the meeting

At the meeting, Mr. Tran Khanh Thuc - Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs thanked the delegation for choosing Nghe An as a destination to promote the investment environment to German enterprises and investors. This is a very valuable opportunity for Nghe An province to get closer to German enterprises.

Mr. Tran Khanh Thuc - Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs informs the delegation about the socio-economic situation of Nghe An recently

Mr. Tran Khanh Thuc - Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs informed the delegation about the location, potential, and socio-economic situation of Nghe An province. Nghe An is the province with the largest natural land area in the country with 16,490 km²; The population is over 3.3 million people and Nghe An is the fourth most populous province in the country. Of which, about 1.9 million people are of working age and the percentage of skilled workers is quite high. Nghe An is the hometown of President Ho Chi Minh - a world cultural celebrity. Moreover Nghe An is a famous land with a tradition of studiousness, good study, diligence and creativity.  Beside, Nghe An is also an education - training center of the North Central region with 06 universities, 11 colleges, more than 70 intermediate schools and vocational training centers.

The transport system of Nghe An province fully converges with road, air, sea, inland waterways, railways and border gates. Nghe An has the Southeast Nghe An economic zone, which is expanded to over 20,700 hectares. In addition to Southeast Economic Zone, Nghe An province also has 06 Industrial Parks (IPs) with a total area of 1,660 hectares.

Over the past two years, the COVID-19 epidemic has negatively affected the Socio-economic development of Nghe An province however the province still achieved some positive results. GRDP growth rate is estimated to increase by 6.2%. Budget revenue is estimated at nearly 19,000 billion VND, approximately 835 million USD. Export turnover in 2021 reached more than 2.4 billion USD, up 201% compared to the plan. Investment attraction has seen many changes with the total newly and adjusted registered capital reaching nearly VND 44 trillion (approximately 1.93 billion USD).

The province has always paid attention to administrative reform, promoting the improvement of business investment environment, strongly promoting investment attraction; focus on supporting and resolving difficulties and obstacles for enterprises and investors. In addition, the province also prioritizes and focuses on effectively mobilizing and using resources, arranging capital sources with focus and focus; prioritize investment in infrastructure systems, especially important transport infrastructure, especially in bottlenecks such as seaports and airports; interested in investing in infrastructure of industrial parks and industrial clusters to attract investment. These are important prerequisites to effectively exploit and promote the advantages of Nghe An province.

Regarding the cooperation relationship with Germany, currently there is no German FDI project in the province, but the export turnover to Germany in 2021 will reach nearly 38.27 million USD, increasing 3.64 times compared to 2020, accounting for 2.0% of the province's total turnover. Main export items: Steel and corrugated iron of all kinds, textiles, cement, etc. In the first 4 months of 2022, export turnover reached 16.37 million USD, up 59% over the same period last year.

Import turnover in 2021 only reached less than 1.0 million USD. The first 4 months of 2022 increased sharply with a turnover of 2.94 million USD. Imports are mainly machinery, equipment and spare parts.

In general, the import-export turnover of Nghe An enterprises with the German market has a sudden growth in 2021 and is expected to continue to grow in the near future along with efforts to implement the EVFTA Agreement in the province. This is a market with a fast growth rate in the period of 2016-2020 (average growth of 67.2%).

Regarding labor - vocational training, from 2016 to this year, Nghe An has 78 nurses who have been trained and left to work as nurses in German hospitals. Currently, in the province, there are 03 enterprises that have been licensed by the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province to study abroad in Germany.

In order to strengthen investment, trade and labor cooperation, the Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs requested German Industry and Commerce to introduce and promote the investment environment of Nghe An province to German investors. The fields in which Nghe An province is attracting investment are: High-tech industry, supporting industry; technology techniques of new material production, smart materials to promote the development of these fields under the Industrial Revolution 4.0; mechanical engineering industry, metallurgy, equipment production, electronic components, telecommunications, information technology, automation equipment; manufacturing and assembling autos, machinery and equipment, machinery spare parts, etc.

At the same time, coordinate to organize conferences and seminars on investment and trade promotion to attract German enterprises to invest in Nghe An province and promote typical products of Nghe An province to access the German market as well as German products to Nghe An consumers.

Regarding labor, support Nghe An province to train high-quality human resources according to German standards. The province will continue to further promote cooperation and experience sharing in the management of vocational education institutions through seminars and training sessions; training and retraining to improve professional skills, foreign languages, etc. for teachers and managers of vocational education. Invest in construction, establishing a high-quality vocational education school or branch in Nghe An province to train high-quality human resources for the province in order to better meet the needs of the labor market in general and of the Federal Republic of Germany in particular.

Mr. Marko Walde - Chief Representative of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam speaks

On behalf of the delegation, Mr. Marko Walde - Chief Representative of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam thanked the leaders of the Department of Foreign Affairs for the detailed sharing. He highly appreciated the Socio-economic development results of the province despite being affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. In the coming time, of German Industry and Commerce will strengthen advertising to attract more German enterprises to invest in Nghe An. “Nghe An in general and Vinh City in particular have a lot of potential to attract foreign investment such as a large natural area, abundant labor resources, orientation to attract investment of the province, etc.” – Mr. Marko Walde said.

Mr. Marko Walde said that in recent years, foreign investors tend to invest in Southeast Asia, in which many investors choose Vietnam to invest. This is the right time for Nghe An province to promote and attract investors to invest in the province. According to Mr. Marko Walde, to attract investors from Europe in general and German investors in particular, it is necessary to develop green and renewable energy.

The delegation members also raised a number of questions related to the province's human resource development, the province's investment promotion plan in the Germany, etc. In front of the issues of concern to the delegation, leaders of relevant departments and agencies also discussed specific contents.

At the meeting, Mr. Tran Khanh Thuc - Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs thanked German Industry and Commerce for its contributions in attracting investment in the province; at the same time, he has hoped that in the near future there will be many investors from Germany to invest in Nghe An.

PT