Attending the Forum were Mr. To Anh Dung - Deputy Minister of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Vo Tuan Nhan - Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Mr. Guido Hildner - German ambassador in Vietnam, Mr. Andreas Stoffers - Director of Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) in Vietnam, Assoc.Prof.PhD. Nguyen Hoang Hai - Vice Director of Vietnam National University, Hanoi; Assoc.Prof.PhD. Nguyen Truc Le - Rector of VNU University of Economics and Business, along with Assoc.Prof.PhD. Nguyen Anh Thu - Vice Rector, participated in this event. Especially, nearly 300 scientists, lecturers, leaders of government agencies and international organizations, together with news agencies, also attended the event.

 

Delivering the welcome speech at the Forum, Assoc.Prof.PhD. Nguyen Truc Le - Rector of VNU University of Economics and Business said, following the educational internationalization strategy, UEB was promoting international cooperation exchanges in the field of teaching and research. The forum was organized to discuss perspectives and promote cooperation between the two countries in the context of global integration. Assoc.Prof.PhD. Nguyen Truc Le also expected that the university would become a hub to enhance the relationship between Germany and Vietnam in the near future.

 

Assoc.Prof.PhD. Nguyen Hoang Hai stated that the Viet Nam-Germany Economic and Trade Forum played a vital role in promoting a broad strategic partnership between the two countries. He highly appreciated the leading role of the University, together with two coordinating agencies, for having invited domestic and international organizations, leading economic, trade and environmental experts of Vietnam and Germany reported their discussions and shared their research and business results at the forum. The results of the forum will convey a meaningful message to investors and researchers of the two countries. He hoped that in the future, there would be more forums, conferences and workshops to promote economic, trade, science and technology exchanges between the two countries.

 

On behalf of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan highly appreciated the efforts of the Government and relevant agencies of the German Federal Republic diplomatic relations in general and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in particular. He hoped that related agencies and businesses of the two countries would promote closer cooperation in the areas of environmental protection, resource protection with climate change response, and environmental security. There was a need to expand and strengthen international cooperation on environmental protection, and to fully implement international commitments on environmental protection in the near future.

 

Vietnam-Germany economic and trade cooperation have developed rapidly over recent years but remain modest compared to the potential and desire for cooperation on both sides, added Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan. Given the need for a return to sustained growth due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the circumstances of a complex international economy, “high quality” cooperation frameworks like EVFTA was a wonderful opportunity for Vietnam to strengthen and expand trade and economic relations with partners from Germany and EU countries.

 

Together with Deputy Minister To Anh Dung, Mr. Guido Hildner - German Ambassador in Vietnam, and Mr. Andreas Stoffers - Director of Friedrich Naumann Foundation, also confirmed that the EU and German businesses would take advantage of the EVFTA agreement to strengthen their presence in the Vietnamese market. This would contribute significantly to Vietnam-Germany bilateral economic cooperation, as well as the recovery of ASEAN and EU growth. This event provided a platform for discussing and contributing to the opening of potential opportunities for cooperation.

 

Viet Nam-Germany Investment Forum 2020 primarily focused on two main topics namely prospects of Vietnam-German economic relations in the context of globalization and opportunities from EVFTA and EVIPA for Vietnamese and German businesses. Besides, newly emerging issues related to sustainable development such as environmental protection, renewable energy development, and cyclical economic growth should be taken into serious consideration as well.

 

 

 

 

At the event, speakers discussed key topics such as Vietnam-Germany sustainable trade relations, EVFTA and EVIPA prospects for Vietnam in general and trade-investment relations with Germany in particular, opportunities for cooperation between German and Vietnamese enterprises. Five discourses were presented, namely “Vietnam-German economic and trade relations” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), “Vietnam-Germany sustainable trade and prospects of EVFTA” (PhD. Vu Thanh Huong, UEB), “EVIPA - Opportunities for improving the quality of investment in Vietnam in a new period” (Mr. Le Viet Thai, Vietnam-Germany Friendship Association), “Opportunity for Cooperation between Germany and Vietnamese Businesses” (PhD. Oliver Massman - Director General of Duane Morris), “EVFTA - Opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese Businesses in cooperating with Germany" (PhD. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang - Director of the WTO and International Trade Center, Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry).

Seminar 2 in the afternoon entitled “Economic circulation, renewable energy and protection of the environment” by Assoc.Prof.PhD. Nguyen An Thinh - VNU University of Economics and Business and Assoc.Prof.PhD. Nguyen Trung Thang - Deputy Director of Institute of Development Strategy, Institute of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

 

In this session, five discourses delivered by experts, managers and enterprises in the circular economy, renewable energy and environmental protection were presented, including “The circular economy in Europe and lessons for Vietnam” (Assoc.Prof.PhD. Nguyen Hong Quan, Director of General Institute of Economic Development, Circular Economic Development Research, VNU-HCM), “Introduction of new amendments to environmental protection regulations in Vietnam (2020)” (Mr. Phan Tuan Hung, Department of Justice, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment”, “Solution for promoting the circular economy”, “Policy to promote the circular economy in Vietnam” (PhD. Nguyen Thi Vinh Ha - VNU University of Economics and Business), "Prospects of Vietnam’s strategy for environmental protection in the future" (PhD. Nguyen Trung Thang - Deputy Director, Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.)

The session in the afternoon emphasized three main issues:

(1) The circular economy: development policy to promote circular economy in Germany; conditions for circular economic development in Vietnam; cooperation among enterprises in promoting the circular economic model in Vietnam.

(2) Renewable energy: the potential of developing renewable energy in Vietnam; policies and strategies for sustainable renewable energy development in Germany and Vietnam; investment opportunities in renewable energy in Vietnam.

(3) Environmental protection: implementation of commitments to environmental protection in the context of international integration, disputes over trade related to environmental issues, compliance with new environmental protection regulations in Vietnam’s Law on Environmental Protection (2020).

The forum provided researchers, managers and Vietnam and Germany with a chance to present and discuss the issue of development cooperation in the economic, commercial spheres and environmental protection in Vietnam and Germany in the current context. Such an event would open new cooperation in research among universities in VNU with academic institutions, development organizations, state management agencies of Vietnam and Germany, to address the problem of economic development and social and environmental protection of Vietnam, Germany and EU countries.