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With a population of 97 million, Vietnam is a potential market for Austrian firms to expand their business operation, while it serves as a gateway for Austrian products and services to get access to the 670 million-strong ASEAN market. Photo: VNA

The article hailed Vietnam’s consistent, drastic and effective measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the Vietnamese market remains attractive to Austria's firms, reported VNA.

The article said it is not without reason that the Austria’s IC- Steiermark Centre (ICS) has brought Vietnam into a focus programme this year, on the back of its 2.9 percent economic growth, which could reach 5-7 percent this year.

It quoted Austrian Commercial Counsellor in Ho Chi Minh City Dietmar Schwank as saying that Vietnam has insisted on virus containment and wide quarantine for immigrants. Such policy has proven successful in both health and economic terms. Border closure, a 14-day quarantine without exceptions and a consistent anti-pandemic plan have helped Vietnam curb the virus spread.

Meanwhile, failures in tourism sector which experienced a boom with 18 million visitors in 2019 could be offset by public investment, manufacturing and domestic consumption.

Additionally, the Vietnamese Government also offered aid packages to enterprises and the unemployed.

In political and macro-economic terms, the author hailed Vietnam as stable country with its key policies of economic liberalisation, investment in infrastructure and foreign investment attraction. All such factors have made Vietnam attractive to Austrian companies.

Despite COVID-19, Vietnam recorded a GDP growth of 2.91 percent last year, which is a major success of the country. Photo: VNA

The European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which took effect in August 2020, has also brought advantages to bilateral cooperation. Vietnam is now the largest trade partner of Austria in Southeast Asia, with imports from the latter amounting to nearly EUR 1 billion . New business opportunities could be identified in infrastructure, health care, energy, urban technology, environment, security, disaster management, hi-tech products and production machinery.

The ICS’s adding Vietnam into its 2021 focus programme could open up a series of events such as seminars and trips to the country this autumn.

The centre said exporters and Austrian firms operating in mechanical engineering, food and pharmaceuticals will enjoy many chances when navigating the Vietnamese market./.

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