Vietnam, DPRK host conference to seek investment opportunities

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the DPRK’s Ministry of External Economic Affairs jointly hosted the event in Hanoi to seek cooperation chances and promote trade ties between the two countries. The conference was held within the framework of the 9thsession of the Vietnam – DPRK intergovernmental committee.

At the event, Mun Chol, deputy head of the external economic affairs department under the DPRK’s ministry, delivered a speech about the investment environment in his country and introduced several potential projects in a bid to boost investment and trade ties with Vietnam.

The DPRK has a population of more than 24 million and has enacted the law on foreign investment since 1992, according to the official.

As of 2011, the country has attracted 306 foreign invested projects, with a total registered capital of more than US$1.4 billion, he added.

The DPRK is attracting investment in the fields of infrastructure construction, scientific research and technology, he said.

Mun Chol also said rich natural resources and advantages in workforce, labor cost and taxes are attractive factors that Vietnamese businesses can consider when deciding whether to invest in what he said is a potential market, according to Kinh Te Do Thi (Urban Economic) newswire.

There are more than 200 different types of minerals, seafood, and agriculture products in the DPRK, whereas its workforce is well trained, the official said.

The newswire also quoted Mun Chol as saying that labor costs in the country are only one-tenth of those in the Europe, and one-fifth in Hong Kong and China.

Commercial banks and the chambers of industry and commerce of the two countries have signed agreements and both are working to amend laws related to bilateral investment, according to Kinh Te Do Thi.

Mun Chol underlined that trade ties between the two countries are increasingly widening, with the DPRK organizing annual international trade fairs for Vietnamese enterprises to take part in July and September.

In May, several North Korean companies also attended a medical equipment and medicine exhibition in Hanoi.

The DPRK Ministry of External Economic Affairs has also launched an online trade portal, so businesses from the two countries can take advantage of it to exchange information and seek partners, he pressed.

Also on Thursday, Vietnamese Deputy Transport Minister Nguyen Van Cong and DPRK Deputy External Economic Affairs Minister Ri Myong San inked a bilateral air transport agreement, according to Kinh Te Do Thi.

Once it takes effect, the pact will facilitate airlines in the two countries in exploiting the other’s market and meet travel demand from their people.