Vietnam-France Energy Forum: Cooperation opportunities for businesses

The Vietnam-France Energy Forum, an important event to promote energy development programs and projects in Vietnam between Vietnamese and French partners, was organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in coordination with the Business France Trade Agency under the French Embassy in Vietnam on July 7 in Paris.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Cao Quoc Hung speaks at the forum. (Photo: Bich Ha/Vietnam+)

The Vietnamese delegation, led by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Cao Quoc Hung, included representatives from Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN), Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petro Vietnam) and many businesses operating in the energy sector.

Speaking at the opening of the forum, Mr. Henri Baissas, Deputy General Director of Business France, highlighted the significance of the Vietnam-France Energy Forum, a follow-up event to the "Meet Vietnam" Forum held in September 2014 to connect French and Vietnamese businesses.

According to him, this event once again creates favorable conditions for strengthening cooperation and partnership between French and Vietnamese enterprises in an important field that makes great contributions to the economic development of each country.

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Ngoc Son highly appreciated the initiative to organize the Vietnam-France Energy Forum. According to him, the exchanges between management agencies and businesses of the two countries on energy - one of the strategic priority areas in cooperation between Vietnam and France, taking place less than 3 months after the Vietnam-France High-Level Economic Dialogue in Hanoi, demonstrated the desire of both countries to further promote bilateral cooperation in the energy sector.

For his part, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Cao Quoc Hung emphasized the new momentum in the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and France since the two countries signed a strategic partnership in September 2013 during the official visit to France by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

He also said that in the energy sector, Vietnam and France have had many diverse cooperation activities including oil and gas exploration, exploitation and processing, cooperation in the field of energy science and technology, investment participation, and development of power plants...

Currently, leading French energy enterprises such as Alstom, EDF, ENGIE, AREVA, Technip... are all present in Vietnam, participating in many exciting cooperation projects across the country such as Dung Quat oil refinery, Phu My fertilizer plant, Son My 1 gas-fired thermal power plant...

However, he also said that current cooperation projects between the two countries are still very modest while there are many cooperation opportunities for French investors and businesses in the energy sector because French businesses have strengths in science and technology, management capacity, financial potential and Vietnam's energy demand is increasing rapidly to meet growth requirements.

He specifically cited projects that France can cooperate in the oil and gas sector, such as oil and gas exploration and exploitation at existing projects and seeking opportunities to develop new projects in Vietnam and in third countries; implementing petrochemical projects, processing oil and gas products; investing in infrastructure to serve the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Vietnam.

In the electricity sector, French enterprises can invest in coal-fired thermal power projects using clean coal technology, gas-fired thermal power projects; develop power transmission grid systems, new energy and renewable energy projects, consult and cooperate to modernize the power system dispatching management system, improve management capacity...

Representatives of the French Development Agency (AFD) and the French Public Investment Bank for Export Support (Bpifrance Export) introduced financing tools to implement loans through credit agreements as well as export support activities through credit insurance products and exchange rate insurance to encourage French enterprises to conduct market exploration and implement investment projects abroad, including in Vietnam.

Following the plenary session, the forum was divided into two thematic discussion sessions on electricity and oil and gas, where Vietnamese enterprises specifically introduced their projects and development needs, while French enterprises introduced their technology, products and services to seek opportunities to establish partnerships in projects that would benefit both sides./.

According to Vietnam+