ERJ staff report (TP)
Colombo, Sri Lanka − A delegation of 15 Vietnamese companies is visiting Sri Lanka this month seeking local partners and agents, reported Lanka Business Online.
There will be a business-to-business meeting on 18 November at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in Colombo.
The wide variety of firms includes those involved in conveyor belts, rubber foam insulation and natural rubber processing.
Vietnamese enterprises, including those with foreign investment, have transformed the country following 'Doi Moi' reforms in 1982 involving the ending of state controls and allowing the entrepreneurial spirit of the people to be unleashed.
Analysts say Vietnam has seen the birth of competitive businesses after tariffs were brought down under ASEAN rules giving freedom to the people, especially in the 1990s, and they compete with foreign firms to sell goods to Vietnamese citizens. As a result Vietnamese firms can easily compete in exports markets as well.
In July, a top official of the European Market Department of Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade asked exporters of several industrial sectors to limit exports fearing that the country will lose its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) benefits from Europe.
GSP benefits are withdrawn when total EU imports top 17.5 percent from a single country. Vietnamese footwear makers lost the GSP benefits in 2009.
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Full story from Lanka Business Online
