Vietnam Country Presentation - An Encounter Between Vietnam and Liguria

At 10:30 on December 11th, 2020, Vietnam came closer to Italy in the “Vietnam Country Presentation – An Encounter between Vietnam and Liguria”. The event was organized by ICHAM and Liguria International. Attending the webinar and presenting about Vietnam were H.E. Antonio Alessandro - Ambassador of Italy to Vietnam, ICHAM Chairman Mr. Michele D’Ercole, ICHAM Director Mr. Hoang Hai Pham and Mr. Massimiliano Margarone - Desk Liguria ICHAM. From Liguria, the organizer welcomed Andrea Benvenuti - Councilor for economic development of Liguria region, Mr. Ivan Pitto of Liguria International, Mr. Andrea Visentin of the Start-up 4.0 Competence Center, Mr. Andrea Razeto from Confindustria Nautica, Ms. Alessandra Giorgi – CTO\Owner of SPX LAB, and Ms. Rosella Scalone – Chairman of MEGA3 SRL.

Within the webinar, attendants were presented with details regarding the economic prospect of both Vietnam and Liguria region, H.E. Antonio Alessandro - Ambassador of Italy to Vietnam began his speech by showing the opportunities offered by the Vietnamese market to Ligurian companies, drawing attention to certain sectors of strong interest for Liguria. The Ambassador cited various favoriable factors aiding Italian investors in joining the Vietnam market including the EVFTA, the RCEP, almost normal life due to the excellent management of the Covid-19, considerable social and government stability. Of course, the country still has space for improvement and development, noticebly regarding the lack of respect for intellectual property, infrastructural gaps, almost total employment of the population and strong competition from larger competitors from all parts of the world, in particular from Japan, South Korea or China.

Andrea Benvenuti - Councilor for economic development of the Liguria region, took the floor by celebrating the traditional Ligurian culture devoted to international trade and facing east. Liguria presented itself as a very popular destination for eastern tourism, hoping for a further opening of the country to Vietnamese travelers following the Covid-19 pandemic. Its region excels not only in the agri-food sector but also in the field of ICT, reaffirming the region’s willingness to support commercial initiatives and not towards the country.

The turn was then passed to the ICHAM Chairman Mr. Michele D’Ercole. After introducing the work of ICHAM and the inauguration of the 4 ICHAM desks (Tuscany, Veneto, Trentino Alto Adige and Liguria) which took place this year last in several Italian regions to better inform and support Italian SMEs interested in investing in the country, Mr. Michele describes the activities of the Chamber on the Vietnamese territory, such as the events related to the week of Italian cuisine in the world, other events related to cinema and the informative webinars held in collaboration with Italian bodies.

In economic terms, Vietnam is one of the few countries to have positive economic growth in 2020 of around 2%. In the first 11 months of 2020, Vietnam’s exports grew by 5.3%, reaching a value of over USD254 billion, with a positive balance with imports of USD234 billion. The main products exported from Vietnam, the President informed, remain electronics products (think of Samsung, which has its largest factory here), textiles, footwear and computer components. In terms of imports, there are always components of electronics and mechanics, fabrics and clothing. Specifically, Italy imports many agricultural, textile and electronics products. The Peninsula, despite a 20% reduction, still exports many machinery and agri-food products (over 50 million euros), and then textiles, leather and chemical products. The sectors cited by the ambassadors, MD says, will increase in value in the following years following the Italian investments.