vietnam thailande 10jul2

The two-daymeeting is being held amidst global unrest which is having a detrimental effect on thetourism industry.

The meeting adopted five measures raised by Duong XuanHoi, head of the tourism department of the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism(VNAT). Thailand is responsible for organizing an expert group to promote common tourismby road in Europe and America. Vietnam will study the possibility of opening a joint tourthrough Indochina including central Vietnam and the Mekong Delta. The three countries willcombine tourism by road and air and boost cooperation to simplify procedures.

The Laos representatives will petition their government tofinalize the upgrade of Road 9 from Lao Bao Bordergate to Savanakhet along the East-WestCorridor soon to promote travel by road.

VNAT deputy head Pham Tu said common tourism by road hadsome advantages as Vietnam, Laos and Thailand were members of Asean. The three have signedmultilateral tourism agreements on the East-West Corridor and recognize the drivinglicenses and car technical registration of each other. In addition, Vietnam and Thailandhave exempted entry visas for tourists of the two countries.

However, it is difficult for fleets of cars to enterVietnam due to the bad roads and complicated entry procedures at the border. Besides,Vietnam does not allow right-hand-drive vehicles, Tu said. ASEAN is a big market and couldsupply the numbers to compensate for the decrease in tourists from Europe and NorthAmerica

Last year, the two countries guaranteed to cooperate inrice exports by establishing a joint rice export fund. Each country would contribute100,000 tons of 25% broken rice, aiming to avoid undercutting prices.

The Thai guests showed keen interest in the investment environmentand policies in Vietnam, especially in the south, and in business deals in the textilesector and some other industries. Most of the 21 Thai companies joining the trip areinvolved in the textile industry. They said at the meeting that they wanted to enter theVietnamese market.

Vietnam is Indochina's most attractive market for textilemanufacturers, said Samphong Wanapha, senior executive advisor of the Office of the Boardof Investment - an agency under the Thai prime minister's office, citing huge demand andlow-cost labor. Thanaset Lotharugpong, general manager of Bangkok textile maker V.T.Industries Ltd., said he had previously known nothing about the Vietnamese market, exceptfor the cheap labor and big demand. The company is looking to long-term investment inVietnam. "We want to join forces with Vietnamese companies or set up enterprises hereto produce garments for export," he said. "That is the reason for ourvisit."

Other Thai companies that have come to Vietnam for thefirst time want to explore commercial prospects in food processing, electronics andplastics. In addition to seeking outlets for their products in Vietnam, the Thai companiesplan to set up production bases in Vietnam to process goods for export to other countries.

Samphong said the mission would also visit Dong Nai andBinh Duong provinces and make a fact-finding tour of major seaports in the country,especially deep seaports in Danang. The Thai government has launched programs to encouragecompanies to increase overseas investment, especially in the region, he said. The economicdownturn in the U.S. and Japan has had a bad impact on the world economy, so strongercooperation between Southeast Asian countries is needed to reduce dependence on the twoworld powers, he said. Thailand ranks 11th among Vietnam's foreign investment sources,with 92 projects capitalized at US$ 1.1 billion.

Most Thai-invested projects are committed to the southernregion, especially HGMC, in such areas as food processing and agriculture. The Thaicompanies that are continuing to expand operations in Vietnam include CP Group, Redbulland Amata. Annual two-way trade is estimated to be worth US$ 1.1 billion

Chalermpol Thanchitt, Thai Consul General in HCMC added that the number has climbed because visas are no longer needed, and ii is high time we arranged more flights for tourists, particularly for special events," he said.

As they have signed a tourism agreement and joined a project to develop Mekong tourism, Southeast Asian countries should cooperate to promptly materialize things agreed, Svetasreni said.

Trans-Indochina car travel is possible but difficult because of no rough roads and the ban on left-hand drive vehicles in Vietnam

VN - Thailand enhance cooperation

(VNS-21-05-2001)- Trade Minister Vu Khoan returned from a visit to Thailand last week, where he met with Thai authorities to discuss possibilities for bilateral cooperation in exports. Vietnam News Agency spoke to him about the visit.

Viet Nam is well aware of the current falling world prices of agricultural products like rice, coffee, rubber and tea due to over-supply. Did your visit to Thailand aim at discussing -bilateral co-operation in rice exports?

Vietnamese and Thai rice exports now account for 45 percent of the world's supply. With this in mind, co-operation better the two countries would be very advantageous for us because we could affect rice prices in favour of farmers. Viet Nam and Thailand have long co-operated in rice exports, but results have been limited.

When Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited Viet Nam last April, he and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai decided to increase co-operation in rice export, and assigned myself and my Thai counterpart to discuss the issue. I visited Thailand to discuss promotional measures for rice export.

Viet Nam and Thailand already have an agreement on exporting lower-grade rice with 25 percent broken grain. During your visit, did you discuss exporting higher grades of rice?

Our co-operation should be comprehensive and should span all grades of rice and their export to different markets. So far, the Thais agree with us on this issue.

Besides rice, what other items did Viet Nam and Thailand discuss working together on ?

Trade relations between Viet Nam and Thailand have developed rapidly. Over the past 10 years, trade growth has increased 17 times. Last year, two-way trade was estimated at US$1.2 billion, surpassing our mutually agreed target of $1 billion. But these numbers are still pretty insignificant when you consider our combined populations of 140 million people.

Thailand should import more from Viet Nam. We produce a large amount of coal, for which the Thais have' a strong demand. We should also work together to improve agricultural strains for export. Thailand has experience, particularly in agriculture.

I suggested that older members of ASEAN should grant tax-free status to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. And so, free tax goods will be classified at the ASEAN economic ministers' meeting in Ha Noi this October. This will contribute to promoting our exports to Thailand.

Basically, the discussion not only covered rice export, but all fields involved in boosting trade relations.

Do you think two-way trade between Viet Nam and Thailand this year will exceed last year's figure of US$1.2 billion?

I am cautious to show optimism in light of the current situation, which so far isn't favourable. World prices are falling for many of our products. The buying power of the world market, including ASEAN countries, has declined. So have export activities. The United States and Japan, two key partners of ASEAN, are beset with difficulties.

If we want to maintain a $1.2 billion or higher trade turn-over this -year, our enterprises will have to make greater efforts to enter the Thai market.

What measures will the Trade Ministry and other concerned offices take to raise the country's export value to $16 billion this year?

By increasing exports we hope to boost domestic production and increase the local consumer price index. We want to increase our people's spending power.

To boost exports, we have striven to remove obstacles to export activities and encouraged all enterprises and producers to engage in export. This is elaborated in Government Decision No.46 made public in April. Export procedures have been streamlined by reducing bureaucratic procedures and eliminating export quota restrictions.

Successful exporters, and those establishing new export markets, should receive material incentives and rewards for their efforts.

A 15 per cent export increase in the first four months of this year on the same period last year is mostly attributed to the search for overseas markets, in which the Trade Ministry plays an important role. Rice exports have grown considerably, but the turnover has shrunk with the prices. And although we keep increasing our exports of coffee, cashews and other farm produce, We still can't seem to increase export revenue.

Now that you have been elected to the secretariat of the Party Central Committee, what do you think your assignments might entail?

I am ready to take any job entrusted by the Party. I don't know whether I will remain in the Trade Ministry. However, my future job will be related to this sector as I have been assigned by the secretariat to take charge of outward-oriented economic activities.

Anyway, we achieved a very high export growth rate last year, estimated at 25 percent. This year's target of 16 per cent growth requires even greater efforts as the quality of 16 per cent this year is different from that of 25 per cent last year. Our export status is much higher than before. That's why, while I ' am pleased to see an increase so far this year, I am still concerned because the international situation is not really favourable.

I am still hopeful because it is only May. and as export activities often gain full momentum in the later months of the year. Usually, export contracts are signed at the beginning of the year, but only after That do production and business activities return to normal. They reach full steam at the end of the year. I have many reasons to hope that we will achieve the yearly plan.

(VEN -24-04-2001)- Vietnam has seen Thailand's economy surge during the in past decade and the region's recovery immediately after the financial storm of 1997 is providing support for Vietnam-Thailand economic relations.

After the visit of Thailand's Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun to Vietnam in 1992, changes to both Vietnam's trade policy and its integration with the regional economy have created favourable trends for the development of bilateral trade between the two countries.

Up to 1994, Vietnam exported mostly raw materials and natural products - minerals, timber and semi-finished products - that accounted for more than 70 percent of total export turnover to Thailand.

Then, from 1995, Vietnam started to export electric equipment, textiles and garments and chemicals. Electric equipment and spare parts have so far accounted for about 50 percent of the exports but farm, aquatic and light industrial products are also an important component of exports to Thailand.

In turn, Vietnam imports machinery and equipment such as vehicles and motorcycles and in the first ten months of last year, the value of vehicles and spare parts totaled $190 million.

Thailand also exports large amounts of fertilisers, iron and steel and cement to Vietnam because domestic production is yet to match domestic demand.

But Vietnam suffers a bilateral trade deficit that has been increasing since 1993. In 1995, it was US$423 million. In 1996, it was $520 million but in 1997- 1998 it was about $377 million because of the regional financial crisis. Last year, the trade deficit bounced to $424 million from a downturn of $244 million in 1999.

Thailand's products have gradually winning priority over those made domestically because good-quality diversified Thai products have won niches in the Vietnam market.

In addition, changes to Vietnamese export structure by increasing percentage of completed products and reducing raw materials &, has adversely affected the balance of trade between the two countries in the first instance. The sending of Vietnamese major exports to new markets, together with the reduction in export prices causes a further imbalance.

Thailand has 94 direct-invested projects in Vietnam with total investment of $1.15 billion making it the country's 11 th largest foreign investor. These include six projects worth more than $40 million and 23 projects worth more than $15 million.

Thai investment has flown into Vietnam since the two countries agreed to agreement for investment stimulation and protection in 1989. But the investment stagnated for two years between 1997-98 with the onset of the 1997 financial crisis. But the signals are that it is rebounding with an increasing number of projects licensed.

Most of Thai investors locate in Ha Noi and HCM city and focus mostly on hotel and tourism, banking services, the processing of farm products and manufacturing building materials