PM holds dialogue with leading Dutch businesses

Meeting Ingrid Thijssen, president of VNO-NCW, a Dutch employers’ federation, Chinh highly appreciated VNO-NCW’s role in supporting Dutch businesses to invest and do business effectively in Vietnam over the years, noting the Netherlands is the largest EU investor in Vietnam, ranking eighth out of 141 foreign investors in the country with 409 valid projects valued at US$13.7 billion.  

According to the PM, the Netherlands, a country with the world’s leading developed logistics system, plays an important role as a large export market for Vietnam and as an important gateway to transship Vietnam’s goods into the EU market. The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has opened up great opportunities for businesses of the two sides to expand economic cooperation.

He suggested that VNO-NCW continue to act as a bridge to promote Dutch businesses to invest in Vietnam, especially in the fields of high technology, innovation, digital transformation, green and clean energy, sustainable agriculture, infrastructure, and logistics, and ta the same time help Vietnamese enterprises participate in regional and global supply chains.

The Vietnamese government is committed to creating favourable conditions and actively supporting Dutch businesses to invest in long-term business in the country, Chinh assured Thijssen.

The same day, PM Pham Minh Chinh met Dolf van den Brink, chairman of the executive board of Heineken in Amsterdam.

van den Brink briefed Chinh on the group’s operations globally, as well as its joint venture company in Vietnam that is running six beer plants employing more than 3,000 people and generating over 150,000 jobs. Heineken has so far poured US$1 billion into Vietnam, and it plans to inject an additional US$500 million into the country in the next 10 years.

Chinh welcomed Heineken’s expansion plan and said the Vietnamese Government is committed to supporting Heineken to expand investment and business activities in the country.

The PM said he would direct agencies to study and consider Heineken’s proposal on tax policy, affirming that Vietnam would continue to improve tax policy based on the harmony of interests and the sharing of risks between the State, investors and people.  

The Vietnamese PM also spent time meeting CEOs of several leading Dutch businesses to answer their questions.

Heineken CEO van den Brink highly appreciated Vietnam’s strong commitment to net zero emissions and said Heineken would make a practical contribution to the country’s endeavour. He also proposed promoting the mechanism of direct power purchase and sale, as well as addressing some issues related to solar power.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Boskalis, a leading global dredging contractor and marine services provider, said that Vietnam has potential for becoming a leading maritime transshipment hub in the world. He proposed formulating a legal framework for sustainable sand exploitation at sea, and said Boskalis can give policy advice in this area.

At the reception, Arnout Damen, CEO of Damen Shipyards Gorinchem, revealed the firm’s plan to invest an additional US$100 million into Vietnam’s shipbuilding industry, and expressed desires to assist Vietnam to develop the country’s low-carbon transport system.

In response, PM Pham Minh Chinh said Vietnam is consistently deploying a number of solutions, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, accelerating afforestation, and energy transformation.

To meet its goal, Vietnam needs international support and assistance in terms of capital, technology, human resource training, governance, and institutional building, stated Chinh.

He proposed that international partners lend Vietnam loans to develop renewable energy sources with preferential interest rates, and support Vietnam to build a clean energy industry.

He highly appreciated the Netherlands’ experience in developing seaports and expressed Vietnam’s desire to cooperate with the Netherlands to build seaports to as to realise the goal of turning Vietnam into an international logistics and transshipment center.

With a large volume of goods passing through the East Sea, an important international maritime route in the world, Chinh reaffirmed Vietnam’s consistent stance of ensuring security, safety, and freedom of aviation and navigation in the regional waters, and resolving disputes peacefully in line with international law. On the other hand, he said the exploitation of sand and marine resources must ensure sustainable development.  

The Vietnamese leader also affirmed Vietnam welcomes the direct power purchase and sale mechanism based on the harmony of interests and the sharing of risks between the parties. He also encouraged Dutch businesses to develop rooftop solar power in Vietnam.

The Prime Minister informed Dutch businesses of the plan to turn the cooperation relationship between Vietnam and the Netherlands from a development partnership in the past time to a mutually beneficial cooperation model in the near future.