EU businesses seek investment opportunities in the environmental field

Mr. Siemon Smid, Director of the EU Business Avenues Program, said that this program is sponsored by the European Union (EU) to support small and medium-sized companies with typical technologies in Europe to establish investment and business cooperation opportunities with businesses in Asia, including Vietnam.

"EU companies are looking for business opportunities in Vietnam before EVFTA officially takes effect. This is just the first trip and we plan to organize many networking sessions for Vietnamese and EU companies, especially in the fields of green energy and health," said Mr. Siemon Smid.

30 European businesses just came to survey the investment environment in Ho Chi Minh City related to the water and environment industry last weekend

Meanwhile, in Ho Chi Minh City, in addition to anti-flooding projects, the City is interested in calling for investment in the field of wastewater treatment and environmental pollution treatment. According to a report from the Ho Chi Minh City Flood Control Operations Center, currently, the amount of urban wastewater treated is about 10%; The City's goal is to increase the rate of treated urban wastewater to 60-70% by 2020, and 100% by 2025. Ho Chi Minh City has made a list of 12 wastewater treatment projects to call for investment in the coming years and there have been many interested foreign investors.

European businesses in the water and environment industry coming to find investment cooperation opportunities in Ho Chi Minh City, when talking to reporters from the Investment Newspaper, all expressed their expectation that the projects will soon be implemented. Mr. John McConmy, Commercial Director of Oxymem Smarter Aeration Company, said that Vietnam is the second country to end negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with Europe after Singapore, so it will be convenient for investors to come and cooperate. Vietnam is becoming an increasingly attractive investment destination in Southeast Asia, so businesses want to come early to learn more about the investment environment, as well as find strategic partners for long-term cooperation.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gellert Horvath, Head of Representative Office of Budapest Waterworks Company, said that the Company opened a representative office in Hanoi last year. This is an enterprise specializing in providing equipment for water supply and wastewater treatment plants.

"We believe in the development potential in Vietnam, especially the water industry is booming with many opportunities," Mr. Gellert Horvath said, saying that Vietnam has a safe investment environment and by 2018, when EVFTA officially takes effect, more European businesses will come to invest in Vietnam. Budapest Waterworks is discussing and negotiating with a number of Vietnamese businesses and hopes to establish a joint venture next year to deploy projects in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Thanh Hoa.

However, like many other foreign investors, although they are very interested in water and environmental projects, the "barrier" is still many inadequate mechanisms and policies. For example, with projects in the field of wastewater treatment, there are still some problems such as: investment in the form of public-private partnerships still lacks a payment guarantee mechanism for investors; Difficulties in finding clean land to build factories; The unit price of wastewater treatment services that users must pay has not been uniformly issued; Difficulties in the method of collecting fees for wastewater treatment services... Therefore, businesses believe that Ho Chi Minh City needs to soon have regulations on the unit price of wastewater treatment services, clearly defining the method of collecting fees to pay back capital for wastewater treatment projects.