More that 120 delegations including businessmen and students of Business Administration (MBA) of University of Lisbon, representatives of enterprises - partners of the UEB and Master and Doctorate postgraduates of the UEB - VNU attended the Conference. The representatives of television stations and Press also attended and published the articles on the Conference. Especially, the Conference was sponsored the information by Info TV.

In the Conference, the speech on “Reality of economic development in Vietnam: main issues and challenges” by Dr. Vu Quoc Huy - Dean of Faculty of Development Economics brought the overall picture of current Vietnam economy. Looking back the vicissitudes of Vietnam economy from renovation period up to now, Dr. Vu Quoc Huy indicated the achievements of Vietnam when changing into the market economy. This is the expansion of private sector, the deeper and deeper international economic integration, the exporting development and foreign direct investment (FDI)…

In order to complete the picture of Vietnam economy, the speech by Dr. Le Dang Doanh - senior economist of Institute of Development Economics Research was the more intensive view of business environment in Vietnam. After two year assessing to the WTO, thanks to the success in absorbing FDI and increasing export output, Vietnam economy integrated more deeply into the international economy. However, the position of Vietnam in international business environment is still weak because of backward infrastructure, poor human recourse quality, and incomplete business law system. In addition, the current financial crisis in the world also has big impact on Vietnam economy.

However, in spite of those difficulties, Mrs. Phan Thi Thuy Tram - Ministry of Planning & Investment was still optimistic about the long-term prospect of Vietnam economy. The speech “Investment in Vietnam: policies on industrial zone and export processing zone” by Mrs. Phan Thi Thuy Tram highlighted the investment policies, their advantages and disadvantages that European enterprises encounter when investing in Vietnam. She concluded that Vietnam was still one of the most potential and attractive investment environments.

Mr. Prebend Hjortlund - Vice Chairman of EUROCHAM shared his ideas with Europe enterprises as well as new investors about his practical experiences during 18 years working in Vietnam.

In the Conference, MBA students of University of Lisbon, students of the UEB and the representatives of enterprises in Vietnam and Portugal discussed and exchanged excitingly the information about the economy, business environment and investment chance in Vietnam.

At the end of the Conference, on behalf of the UEB, Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Hong Son gave his gratitude to all the guests and emphasized: “The Conference indicates that foreign enterprises have been interested in Vietnam…The Conference is also the chance for MBA students who are being trained at University of Lisbon, representatives of Portuguese enterprises as well as MBA and DBA students of the UEB and representatives of Vietnamese enterprises to make acquainted, share information and ideas in order to create the business relationship in the future… ” Assoc. Prof. Dr Nguyen Hong Son believed that the Conference will create many cooperation opportunities between the UEB and University of Lisbon as well as strengthen the ties of investment - trade relationship between Vietnam and European Union including Portugal.