A twenty-three-member art troupe from the Central Light Music Theatre and HCM City performed in Germany from December 23-26.

While there, the Vietnamese artists gave performances in Munich , Leipzig and Berlin . Their performances were welcomed by overseas Vietnamese communities, especially the show in Berlin last Saturday, which was watched by more than 2,000 people, including Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Nguyen Ba Son.

On Sunday, the Vietnamese art troupe left Germany for Poland , the next leg of its performance tour of Europe .

(Source: VNA)

VietNamNet – Vietnam is a good choice for German enterprises, said the Minister of Economic Affairs of Germany 's Baden-Wuerttemberg and Governor of the Baden-Wuerttemberg State on November 25.

Mr Ernst Pfister said that at a workshop on manufacturing technology between a German delegation and Vietnamese enterprises in HCM City on November 25. Accompanied Mr Ernst Pfister are over 10 leading enterprises from the Baden-Wuerttemberg State .

According to Mr Pfister, this working trip is to one of the most dynamic economies in the world and the second biggest in Southeast Asia (after Indonesia ). Vietnam has over 60,000 people who can speak German and 7,000 people who have been trained at Germany 's universities.

His trip to Vietnam aims to facilitate companies from the Baden-Wuerttemberg State to introduce their products in Vietnam , including machinery and equipment, automation and manufacturing technology, human resources training systems among others.

At the conference, the President of the Germany Equipment and Manufacturing Association expressed his wish to import spare parts manufactured by Vietnam .

Mr Ernst Pfister promised to continue supporting the operations of the Vietnam-Germany Training Centre in Vietnam .

Deputy Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan presented the city's key agricultural products to German enterprises, including crocodiles (45,000 head), dairy milk (accounting for Vietnam 's 60% of dairy cow herd) and seafood (5,000ha of the marine water surface).

Pham Cuong

More than any other country in Asia, Vietnam has offered German businesses and investors the most favourable conditions for bilateral investment and trade.

The German Ambassador to Vietnam, President Luong Weber-Lortsch, agrees and believes these opportunities should be applied to the fullest.

With a share of 26%, Germany is Vietnam's largest trade partner in the Europe, and since the middle of the 90s, the volume of trade between the two countries has more than tripled, he said.

Weber-Lortsch spoke at the announcement of a German envoy into Vietnam.

The Minister of Economic Affairs of Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg and Governor of the Baden-Wuerttemberg State, Ernst Pfister, is leading a 35-member economic delegation to visit Vietnam from November 20-25 with the aim of boosting Baden-Wuerttemberg businesses.

During the six-day visit, the delegation will attend two technological symposiums in Hanoi and HCM City to introduce new applied technologies for small-and medium-sized businesses.

The delegation is also scheduled to meet with Deputy Industry Minister Do Huu Hao and Director of the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission Truong Tan Sang.

The Baden-Wuerttemberg State established co-operative ties with Vietnam in 1993, and focused particularly on the areas of advanced and vocational training. It has established contacts with the Technical Teachers' Training College HCM City and is supporting training of technical instruction within the framework of a project worth over EUR6.5mil.

Companies from Baden-Wurttemberg exported goods worth EUR120mil to Vietnam in 2003.

Baden-Wuerttemberg State ranks second among Germany's economic areas. It is one of the suggest industrial regions in the Europe in machine tools manufacture, aerospace industry, telecommunications, information technology, electronics, and mechanical and electrical engineering.

(Source: Viet Nam News)

The German Development Service (DED) has chosen Vietnam as one of the countries for a pilot of Germany 's action plan on poverty reduction by 2015.

Lilli Lobsack, DED Vice General Director, announced the decision during her current visit to Vietnam from October 14-21.

The action plan is the furtherance of German Government's commitment to support its partners to cut the number of latter's poor population by half by 2015.

Under the plan, which focuses on job generation, rural development and natural resources management, and health care for handicapped people, the DED will provide Vietnam with 250,000 euros a year.

The DED, a non-profit-making public service, has been operational in Vietnam since 1993. The DED has effectively implemented a series of aid programmes in Vietnam , including the public private partnership cooperation programme with local businesses (Nam-PPP). Twenty-five Nam-PPP projects were launched during the 2003-2004 period, covering the areas of vocational training, technology transfer, rural development and natural resource management, health care and provision of medical treatment to handicapped people.

(Source: VNA)

Vietnam and Germany have signed an agreement on military training co-operation following a three-day official visit to Germany from a Vietnamese military delegation led by Defence Minister Pham Van Tra this week.

The delegation's visit, which wrapped up yesterday, was in response to an invitation from German Defence Minister Peter Struck.

After the formal reception for Vietnamese officials on Monday, the two ministers held discussions, focusing on how to boost military co-operation between the two countries.

In their talks they touched upon the potential exchange of foreign language training and military medicine.

The two sides also shared ideas on their countries' respective socio-economic situations and their experience in organising and building national defence forces, as well as matters of mutual concern.

The German Defence Minister enthusiastically welcomed Mr Tra's first visit to Germany, saying that it marked a step forward in the relationship between the two ministries and helped consolidate the friendship and co-operation of the two nations.

Struck also applauded the achievements Vietnam had made in their economic doi moi (renewal) process.

Mr Tra expressed his gratitude for Germany's support to Vietnam and its defence forces, inviting his German counterpart to visit Vietnam in the near future.

On the final day of the delegation's visit, German Parliament's deputy speaker Susane Kaster gave a warm reception to Mr Tra and his entourage, noting the visit's importance to the co-operation between the two countries.

The delegation also talked with a group of senators specialised on ASEAN before visiting military units and some of Germany's historical sites.

(Source: Viet Nam News)

More than 19,000 adolescents and youth aged between 15-24 will benefit from the US$440,000 reproductive health care project that began in Hanoi yesterday, October 19.

The project, supported by the German Reconstruction Bank (KFW), is to be carried out in Hanoi and HCM City, and in Ha Tay, Quang Ninh, Quang Binh and Long An provinces.

The 21-month project aims to build an information service on reproductive health for youth and adolescents, promote the use of condoms and contraceptive pills and create awareness on safe sexual practices.

At the inaugural ceremony, Nguyen Thien Truong, Deputy Director of the National Committee for Population, Family and Children, said Vietnam which has a youth population of 21mil, making up 32% of the total national population, faced the challenge of meeting the demand of youth and adolescents for reproductive health care.

Under the project, a web site on reproductive health is proposed to be built for providing accurate information and counselling for youth and adolescents.

(Source: Viet Nam News)

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An was seeking experience in law making and supervision from Germany while talking with Deputy Chairwoman of the German National Parliament Susane Kaster in Hanoi on October 12.

Chairman An said such efforts should be made to increase mutual understanding between the two peoples.

The top law maker also asked German colleagues to help boost investment in Vietnam to match the European country's potential.

For her part, Ms Kaster pledged to share experience in law making and promote multi-faceted cooperation with Vietnam .

Ms Kaster said she planned to make fieldtrips to Germany-funded projects on landmine clearing and resettlement for disabled people who are war victims in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue .

Germany is Vietnam 's largest trade partner in the European Union, as it makes up 30 percent of the bilateral trade turnover between the EU and Vietnam .

(Source: VNA)

VietNamNet – An official reception for the German delegation led by Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder took place at 2pm October 9 at the Government Office.

President Tran Duc Luong welcomes German Chancellor at the today ceremony.

After the official reception ceremony, PM Phan Van Khai held talks with his German counterpart, which focused on bilateral cooperation between the two sides, particularly in science and education.

During this visit, German companies accompanying PM Schroeder are to sign economic contracts with select Vietnamese partners.

This is the German Prime Minister’s second consecutive official visit to Vietnam in as many years.

Relations between Vietnam and Germany are developing well. Accounting for 28% of the total import-export turnover between Vietnam and the European Union, Germany is now the largest EU trade partner of Vietnam . Last month, Germany provided Vietnam with Eur43mil in aid.

On October 8, PM Schroeder and Deputy PM Pham Gia Khiem attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Van Laack Hanoi Garment Factory, a wholly German-owned project, at Ngoc Hoi Industrial Zone, Thanh Tri District in Hanoi .

According to Van Laack, after the groundbreaking ceremony, the firm is to invest more than US$2mil to build a new factory on 2,000sq m and recruit 400 local workers, as well as construct a kindergarten for workers’ children.

Tran Hoang Ha

VietNamNet – German Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder arrives on October 7 to start his official four-day visit to Vietnam in Hanoi before the fifth Asia-Europe Meeting.

German PM Gerhard Schroeder will arrive in Hanoi on Oct 7.

According to German Ambassador to Vietnam Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch, Mr Schroeder will meet Secretary General of the Vietnam Communist Party Nong Duc Manh, President Tran Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.

 

Talks will focus on bilateral cooperation, especially in the areas of science and education, which have long been key points in relations with Germany.

 

Apart from high-ranking talks, Mr Lortsch anticipates Vietnamese and German companies will sign contracts, as several leading German firms will accompany Prime Minister G. Schroeder.

 

The German PM will attend key events including the inauguration of the Goethe Institute on October 9, the groundbreaking ceremony of the Vallack Textile Factory in Thanh Tri District, Hanoi as well as hold talks with German-speaking Vietnamese students.

 

Accounting for 28% in the total import-export turnover between Vietnam and the European Union (EU), Germany is the biggest EU trade partner for Vietnam.

 

At mid-September negotiations, Germany committed to provide EUR3mil for development cooperation projects in Vietnam.

 

Germany currently ranks 18^th among foreign investors in Vietnam.

 

Viet Lam

VN can increase coffee export to Germany.

Germany has begun opening its markets without posing limitations on Vietnamese goods, according to the Vietnamese ambassador to Germany.

Accordingly, Germany will absolve the Hermes export credit ceiling and continue settling debts for Vietnam. This country presently imports goods worth over EUR522bil, but only a modest 0.3% hail from Vietnam.

According to experts, Vietnam can easily increase seafood and coffee exports to this market. Germany imports around EUR2.5bil worth of seafood, EUR17bil of garment and textile products and EUR1bil of coffee. The respective portions from Vietnam are 0.5%, 2% and 60%.

(Source: TBKTVN)

Vietnam’s non-quota textile-garment export to Germany hit around US$650mil last year.

The Vietnam Textile and Garments Corporation (Vinatex) is urgently setting up a representative office in Germany, according to the corporation’s Export Promotion Centre.

Once it becomes operational, the office will be the bridge for the corporation’s exports efforts in the German and European markets.

In terms of export value, Germany currently accounts for one half of Vietnam’s total exports to the European Union (EU). Vietnam’s non-quota textile-garment export to Germany hit around US$650mil last year and is expected to increase to $1bil this year.

Thirteen Vietnamese textile-garments firms participated in an international exhibition in Germany’s Düsseldorf early this month and signed many memorandums of understanding as well as some contracts.

(Source: NLD)