Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called on Vietnamese and Macao businesses to promote mutually beneficial cooperation, especially in trade, economics, investment and tourism.

Chief Executive Ho welcomes PM Dung.

Addressing a joint business forum in Macao on April 21, Mr Dung said the purpose of his current visit to the special administrative region (SAR) is to strengthen friendly ties between Vietnamese ministries, sector and localities and Macao.

He noted that China is Vietnam’s No1 trading partner with two-way trade reaching more than US$20 billion last year. However, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Macao remains modest, standing at just US$35 million, which has yet to match the two sides’ potential.

Vietnam highly values the role and position of Macao as a special administrative region which has a high economic development level, a big financial and trade service centre and strong investment and trade links to many countries in the world, said Mr Dung.

He introduced hundreds of businesses at the forum to Vietnam’s major advantages, saying the country maintains socio-political stability and both Vietnam and China are developing strategic and comprehensive cooperative partnership.

Mr Dung answered Macao investors’ questions concerning Vietnam’s policies and solutions to cushion the impact of the global financial crunch. According to Mr Dung, Vietnam gives priority to stabilising the macro economy and developing infrastructure such as highways and express railway lines.

The PM also placed a high priority on developing tourism, considering it one of Vietnam’s spearhead economic sectors.

“We encourage domestic and foreign businesses to invest in tourism projects such as those to build hotels and resorts,” said Mr Dung. “The Vietnamese State ensures a good technical and economic infrastructure for these projects to get off the ground and operate efficiently. Tourism investors also enjoy the most investment incentives from the government.”

Later, PM Nguyen Tan Dung held talks with Ho Hau Wah, the Chief Executive of the Macao special administrative region.

Both host and guest discussed measures to strengthen the friendly and cooperative ties between Vietnam and the SAR. They said that the two sides should cooperate closely to weather the global financial storm and assist each other for mutual benefit. They agreed to increase the exchange of visits and strengthen cooperative ties in the fields of investment, tourism, education and labour.

They also agreed to create favourable conditions for their business circles to explore and establish partnerships.

Macao is willing to serve as a economic bridge between Vietnam and Portuguese-speaking countries, said Mr Ho.

Mr Dung invited Mr Ho to re-visit Vietnam and the visit was accepted with pleasure.

The same day, Mr Dung received representatives of several leading economic groups in Macao.

He left Macao for Hanoi in the afternoon, concluding his working trip to China where he attended the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province from April 17-19 and visited Guangdong province, as well as Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

VietNamNet/VOV