Delegates at the signing of a letter of intention (LoI) on space technology between Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology and France’s Airbus Defence and Space (Photo: nhandan.org.vn)

Since Vietnam and France signed a strategic partnership in 2013 their two-way trade has increased 50%, with the most impressive growth reaching 43.3% in 2015.

Trade rose 9.2% in 2016 and 7.9% last year. This year’s two-way trade revenue has reached nearly 7 billion euros. Vietnam’s trade surplus with France is about 3.5 billion euros.

French economist Jean-Philippe Eglinger, who has worked more than 20 years in Vietnam, said that though the figures appear rosy, in fact France’s exports account for only about 1% of the Vietnamese market.

Trade between the two countries still depends largely on cooperation among major groups in aviation and pharmaceutics that make up 61% of the bilateral trade.

The goal is to diversify forms of economic cooperation, especially between small and medium-sized enterprises and in areas where one side enjoys an advantage.

Eglinger said: “France has an advantage in new IT, so French Tech Vietnam was established. This is an important investment channel. More than 500 firms have registered to join the hub. 70 of the 350 French companies who have registered with the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam are in the field of new information technology. There is a great potential for businesses operating in e-government or start-up companies and cooperation opportunities in the medical sector, especially in hospital upgrading in Vietnam.”

Eglinger noted that Vietnam and France will likely increase their e-economic cooperation after a standard frame for bilateral cooperation is set up.