Two waves of European investment to hit Việt Nam: expert

BRUSSELS – Two waves of European investment will hit Việt Nam after the European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement is signed, a foreign expert has forecast.

Vincent Repay, who has nearly 30 years of experience in international contracts and over 10 years training Vietnamese officials in market economics, said the first investment wave would be short-term with the shifting of European manufacturing facilities to Việt Nam to use the country’s competitive costs and young workforce, and take advantage of a lack of import tariffs in Europe.

The second wave will be medium and long term, he said, adding that European firms would produce items of demand for Việt Nam by improving their manufacturing capacity.

He advised Việt Nam to thoroughly check the quality of materials used for the production scheduled for export while heeding quality management and accessing training offered by EU nations.

Trade ties between Việt Nam and the EU have been growing in recent years. Two-way trade between the two sides averages 40 billion EUR each year and is expected to hit 100 billion EUR by 2025. — VNS