The two sides discussed measures to increasetrade and investment, especially in the field of energy.
The Minister urged Vietnam and Germany to workto increase the bilateral trade to 15-20 billion EUR by 2020, especially whenVietnam and the EU are about to sign a free trade agreement.
The two sides should also join hand to deploythe Fast Track mechanism which was just signed between Vietnam’s Ministry ofIndustry and Trade and Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs in order toquickly remove bottlenecks for businesses while investing and doing business inthe other country, she said.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hailed bigGerman companies such as Siemens, Mercedes Benz, Bosch, Braun, and Adidas formaking effective investment in Vietnam.
However, he noted that Germany’s investment inVietnam only stands at 1.4 billion USD, which is still modest to the bilateralpotential.
The two sides agreed to promote delegationexchanges and business presence at each other’s trade fairs and exhibitions toencourage German small-and medium-sized enterprises to invest in Vietnam.
Phuc thanked the German Government for providingofficial development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam over the past years, whichhas made significant contributions to the Southeast Asian country’ssocio-economic development.
He proposed Germany further help Vietnam toimplement projects on vocational training, climate change adaptation and wastetreatment.
Minister Zypries pledged to provide moreassistance for Vietnam to carry out vocational training programmes.