"The significant improvement is thanks to our efforts to addHong Kong and Thailand to the company's list of export markets, including Myanmar,Cambodia and Laos. Earnings from the two new markets account for up to 60% of the totalexport revenue," Thai Hy Dien, administration and finance director of theFrance-Vietnam pharmaceutical joint venture company, told the Daily.

However, "the exported quantity is still modest andaccounts for just 10% of the total output and the remainder is mostly for localsales," Dien said Sanofi-Synthelabo Vietnam has reaped initial encouraging results asits products have been shipped to Hong Kong, which is considered the most selective marketin Asia and thiswill make it easier for the company to penetrate Europe and America, hesaid.

The company is expected to obtain VND130 billion fromlocal sales and January-September earnings surpassed 10% of the planned target. "Ourcompany achieves an annual growth of 30% on average," Dien said.

Sanofi-Synthelabo Vietnam, established in 1993, is a 70:30joint venture between France's Sanofi-Synthelabo Corp. and Central PharmaceuticalEnterprise No. 23, and has turned out more than 40 kinds of pharmaceuticals, which havebeen given the "High-Quality Vietnamese Goods" tag for the three consecutiveyears starting in 1999.

The company now has 480 employees, including 280 factoryworkers and plans to raise the total workforce to 500 next year. "The additional 20employees are mainly administration and office executives and medical representatives. Therecruits are part of a strategy to train qualified personnel to replace importantadministrative positions currently held by foreigners," said Tran Kim Hanh, head ofthe personnel department.

"We often organize training courses and contests foremployers to test their skill levels for higher pay," Hanh said. "Every year,the company runs courses on labor regulations and safety, environmental hygiene, health,management capacities, up to-date information on ISO 9000 versions and good manufacturingpractices."

Sanofi-Synthelabo Vietnam sends 30-40 of its employeesabroad for further training every year. "In addition, we always invest in improvingthe company's premises and machines in line with modern standards and this costs US$1million every year coupled with VND2.5 billion for human resources development," Diensaid.

"The objective is to raise product quality to expandexports to markets in Asia and to penetrate Eastern Europe next year," Dien said.