Addressing a round-table talk with Hong Kong financial investment organisations on April 20, right after his arrival in China’s special administrative area, PM Dung highlighted the growing trade and investment between Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Two-way trade reached US$3.5 billion in 2008, surging 30 percent over the previous year. Hong Kong now has 500 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam, capitalised at US$6.5 billion.

Mr Dung said the global economic-financial crisis has negatively impacted on Vietnam's export, investment, employment, tourism and people’s life.

He told the investors that Vietnam has been re-structuring the economy towards a sustainable development, with due attention paid to industries that are friendly to environment.

He said Vietnam targets a growth rate of between 5-5.5 percent in 2009 and a higher rate in following years.

The Vietnamese government leader stressed that Vietnam always considers foreign-invested enterprises an integrated part of the country’s economy. 

The country is also making efforts to speed up essential infrastructure construction, especially transport, health care and education, accelerate administrative reform, raise the capacity of state management, develop human resources, protect the environment and effectively cope with climate change and control natural disasters, he added.

Hong Kong investors expressed their approval of the Vietnamese government’s solutions to cope with the fallout from the global economic crisis, including the promotion of production and export, stimulus packages targeting investment and consumption demand, tax cuts and measures to ensure social security and reduce poverty.

They noted that Vietnam’s healthy financial system and banks’ good liquidity will help the country fix the financial crisis as well as attract more investment in this sector.

Hong Kong Special Administration Region Chief, Tsang Yum-Kuen, said that PM Dung’s first visit to Hong Kong will give a boost to the development of bilateral ties.

After the talks, PM Dung witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements between Vietnam’s State Securities Commission and Hong Kong’s Monetary Supervision Authority, and between the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of Trade Promotion and Hong Kong’s Trade Development Council, as well as the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and the Hong Kong Education Bureau.

The same day, PM Dung also received representatives of the Vietnamese community and the staff of the Vietnamese Consulate General in Hong Kong.