The European Union was now the largest trading partner and investor in Vietnam, said Alain Cany, chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), at the “Raising Awareness about the Euro” seminar in HCMC last Friday.

“This is a good reason for the euro to be used in Vietnam,” Cany said at the coffee break at the EuroCham seminar. The president and CEO of HSBC Vietnam pointed out another reason that Vietnamese people were getting out of the U.S. dollar as the main currency and the dong was becoming more and more popular.

“I see the interest of Vietnamese in the dollar is going down significantly and the dong has been seen as a stable currency. This is good for the local economy,” Cany said.

Cany and other bankers at the event agreed Vietnamese businesses had a wider choice of using the U.S. dollar or the European currency for their international transactions.

“So, I’m quite optimistic that this is the reason we do more promotions for the euro for people to understand about it,” Cany said. He added although the share of total transactions in euro was still small, more and more people were resorting to the currency.

Pham Quang Thang of Techcombank agreed with Cany, saying that the number and size of transactions using the euro were small in Vietnam, though the currency had appeared in the country since 2002.

The director of Techcombank’s treasure center showed transactions with the EU market made up 13-15% of total value and payments in euro at the bank accounted for a mere 2.62%.

Thang explained the dollar remained the most common foreign currency in Vietnam’s economy and was widely used as an international payment and savings mean.

Cany said there were no statistics about the share of transactions in euro in Vietnam but put the share at probably 10%. But, the percentage could double in 2010, he said and explained that euro was a strong and stable currency.

Thang said the expansion of the EU increased the diversification and size of the market and helped popularize the use of euro in payments. Financial and investment institutions opting for euro also facilitate investment activities and payments in euro.

Cany said that euro was a good alternative for savings because it was becoming stronger than the dollar. He stressed the stronger euro was the better it was for Vietnamese companies to export their products to Europe.

“Now is the best time for Vietnamese companies to promote their exports to Europe. A lot of European companies try to buy goods from Vietnam because of good quality and attractive prices.”

Antonio Berenguer, trade counselor at the Delegation of the European Commission to Vietnam, said in support of Cany that Europe was a large and attractive export market.

The EU-Vietnam trade ties have grown an average of 15-20% per year over the past decade and were put at 7.4 billion euro in 2005, according to EuroCham.

Source: Saigon Times Daily