2023 is a year of 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations and 10 years of Vietnam -France strategic partners (April 12, 1973 - April 12, 2023). This is a potential market for Da Nang city to call for investment in the comming time.
Vietnam -France relations have experienced a long history
Vietnam and France have a deep cohesion of history and culture. Experiencing historical stages, relations between the two countries have made positive, extensive and increasingly comprehensive changes. Evidence, French is the early country to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam after the Paris Agreement on ending the war, restoring peace in Vietnam was signed in 1973. In the 80s of the last century, the period Vietnam was surrounded the embargo, France is the only Western country to maintain cultural, scientific-technical, educational and training cooperation with Vietnam. Vietnam-French relations beyond the bilateral framework to rely on the relationship between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam after Vietnam established an official relationship with the EU in 1990 and signed the 1995 cooperation framework agreement agreement. So far, France has always been one of Vietnam's leading partners in Europe as well as in the world. France attaches great importance to Vietnam's position in the region as well as in strategies and policies that France has been implementing in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Vietnam has many opportunities to attract FDI from France in particular, EU countries in general, when the Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) are signed.
Regarding EVIPA, in fact in Southeast Asia, in addition to Singapore, only Vietnam has a free trade agreement with the EU, while Singapore focuses only on attracting FDI into the service sector, so Vietnam There will be many opportunities to attract FDI from the EU, especially in the field of manufacturing. According to data of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, France ranked 16/141 countries and territories had investment projects in Vietnam and ranked 3/26 countries of the European Union (EU) . The processing and manufacturing industry is the industry that many French enterprises are interested in investing in Vietnam, France has invested more than 135 projects in this field with a total registered capital of more than 1.1 billion USD, accounting for nearly 31% of the country's total FDI capital into Vietnam.
Phu My 2.2 Power Plant - one of the typical French investment projects in Da Nang. (This is the first BOT project to follow the competitive bidding method in Vietnam. Combining foreign investors including French Power Company (EDF), Tokyo International Power Company (TEPCO) and Sumitomo Group won the contract and contributed capital to establish Mekong Energy Co., Ltd)
Regarding EVFTA, effective from August 1, 2020, the fact shows that in 2021 - after one year of implementing this Agreement, although in the context of Covid -19 epidemic, the import and export of Vietnam of Vietnam Male to the EU and vice versa grew more than 18% compared to when the Agreement was not valid. Many of Vietnam's strengths such as textiles, footwear, agricultural and aquatic products, etc, must take advantage of EVFTA's advantages to enter the French market. Recently, litchi, longan and many agricultural products in Vietnam have made impressive breakthroughs in this market.
Vietnam is also a favorite tourist destination for French tourists. In 2022, according to the General Statistics Office and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the number of French tourists coming to Vietnam was more than 58,000 times (ranked second in the European market - after Germany).
Da Nang should call for more investment from the French market
France is one of the potential investment markets of Da Nang city.
In Da Nang, by the end of December 2022, there are 34 French FDI projects, with a total investment of about 25 million USD, focusing on services, education, hotel and restaurant, information technology, etc).
With the current development orientation of the city, France will be a strong market to call for investment in the field of information technology. In recent years, Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. - a company specializes in designing and developing multi-system games, with the headquarters located at Montreuil-Sous-BOIS, France, with game development studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 28 countries, is one of the one in The 4 largest gaming programming companies in the world, have chosen Da Nang city as the establishment of Ubisoft Vietnam Co., Ltd.
Delegates at the office opening ceremony of Ubisoft Company in Da Nang in 2020
In the comming time ...
On the morning of February 15, Chairman of the City People's Committee Le Trung Chinh chaired the meeting and worked with Mr. Edouard Philippe - Mayor of Le Havre City, former Prime Minister of the French Republic. Because Da Nang and Le Havre have many similarities with each other in terms of development orientation, this will be the foundation for two localities to promote cooperation to develop together in the near future. Da Nang City is committed to supporting and creating maximum conditions for French businesses and corporations to cooperate and invest in Da Nang. Mayor Edouard Philippe said that Le Havre is the largest port in France. Currently, Le Havre is growing very strongly in seaports, applying many technologies to port development. The two sides are rich in potential to cooperate in the field of seaports and other maritime sectors.
City leaders and city delegation Le Havre take photos
Da Nang City has received an invitation to attend the 12th Cooperation Conference between Vietnam - France (taking place from April 13 to 16 in Hanoi). The cooperation conference between Vietnam - France is a regular exchange mechanism, which takes place every 3 years, is an opportunity for localities to meet and exchange on topics and interest, and urge This is the opportunity to cooperate in many different fields such as economics, culture, education, urban, environment, conservation and promotion of heritage and tourism values ... this year's conference by the People's Committee by the People's Committee. Hanoi City presides over and coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Hopefully the conference will open more opportunities to promote the environment and investment opportunities in Da Nang to French partners interested.
The Investment Promotion Agency will cooperate with the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam in particular and the European Business Association in Vietnam (EuroCham) to attract the investors to the city.
