According to the article by IANS,  India and Vietnam are hopeful of achieving the bilateral trade target of $2 billion by 2010, even as New Delhi wishes to join hands with the Southeast Asian nation in the hydrocarbon and power sectors.

The hope was expressed at a meeting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Gia Khiem in Hamburg Tuesday on the sidelines of the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) that India is attending for the first time. Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Cong Phung was also present.

‘The two ministers reviewed bilateral relations and looked at concrete steps which needed to be taken to expand these relations. In particular, they hoped that India and Vietnam could reach the bilateral trade target of US $2 billion by 2010,’ an external affairs ministry spokesperson said here.

During their talks, Mukherjee reiterated India’s desire to cooperate with Vietnam in the hydrocarbon and power sectors.

‘This cooperation could be facilitated by offering soft loans to Vietnam as well as credit loan.

‘The foreign minister of Vietnam discussed the forthcoming visit of the Prime Minister of Vietnam to India. He also took the opportunity to reiterate Vietnam’s support for India’s candidature to the permanent membership of the UN Security Council,’ said the spokesperson.

Mukherjee also met Javier Solana, secretary general of the European Council and high representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy.

They reviewed India-EU relations and expressed their keenness to intensify political contacts.

Mukherjee and Solana also exchanged views on the Iran nuclear issue, according to the spokesperson.

The external affairs minister briefed Solana on the India-Pakistan composite dialogue and the confidence-building measures put in place between the two countries.

Earlier, Mukherjee met his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi and Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga.

(May 29, 2007 - IANS)

http://in.news.yahoo.com/070529/43/6geg9.html)

HANOI (Reuters) - State-run Vietnam Steel Corp. (VSC) is expected to sign an agreement on May 29 with India’s Tata Steel Ltd. for a steel complex, a VSC executive said on Friday.

The Indian government said the total investment would be $3.5 billion.

VSC Chairman Mai Van Tinh said in an invitation sent to Reuters that the Vietnamese firm would sign a memorandum of understanding with Tata on Tuesday in Hanoi, following government approval granted on May 18.

Among countries in Indochina, Thai investors see Vietnam as having the greatest investment potential thanks to its market size, the Bangkok Post reports.  

The consensus emerged among participants on May 28 at a seminar on ‘’Export and Overseas Investment'’, which the Export-Import Bank of Thailand staged to highlight opportunities in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. Vietnam has a population of 84 million but not a wide array of consumer products, noted Mongkol Banthrarungroj, director for CTY TNHH Thai Corp, a distributor of various Thai consumer goods in Vietnam which has been in business for a decade. 

Some products are not sold in Vietnam not because they lack potential or are unpopular among the Vietnamese, but rather because they are simply not available. In fact, the case at the moment is that few manufacturers are willing to take risks, said Mr Mongkol. For instance, there are only two popular brands of oyster sauce in Vietnam, compared with at least five in Thailand. Since the Vietnamese eat a lot of vegetables, oyster sauce should do well in this market, he said.
In any case, investors should not expect a return on investment in the first few years. Instead, they should look for long-term businesses. 

Somhatai Panichewa, senior vice-president for Amata Corporation, said Amata was conducting a feasibility study for its second industrial estate project in Vietnam. The study would be completed by the end of the year. According to Mrs Somhatai, the second project would be around six times larger than the first one. It would cover the area of 2,000 or 3,500 hectares in Long Thanh district. 

The Vietnamese government is actively promoting foreign investment in the country. Any business that the Vietnamese can operate is open for foreigners as well. The government has facilitated regulations on land occupation while the country has political and economic policy stability. But Supachai Verapuchong, deputy managing director for Thainakornpattana Co Ltd, a local pharmaceutical producer, does not recommend foreign investors to enter into partnerships with their Vietnamese counterparts unless they have at least 90% trust in them. 

He added that Thai investors should lease land plots in Vietnam if they benefit their businesses because land prices have risen dramatically. In South Saigon land is now $2,000 (70,000 baht) per square metre while land downtown costs between $10,000 and $12,000 per sq m. As for Cambodia, Mr Supachai does not recommend that Thai investors invest in manufacturing businesses there because of high infrastructure costs and a small market. For example, electricity costs between 20 and 25 US cents per kilowatt/hour - about double the rate in Thailand. 

Deputy Industry Minister Piyabutr Cholvijarn said that while Thailand was losing its competitiveness in export markets, local businessmen saw opportunities in investing overseas. Thailand is currently ranked 23rd in the international export market, with a share of 1.13%, down from 1.16% last year. 

‘’Although our competitiveness in world exports is declining, one good sign has emerged - more and more Thais are exploring investment opportunities abroad,'’ he said. Last year, the total overseas investment made by Thai businessmen stood at 35 billion baht, a sharp rise from 9.8 billion baht in 2001. 

Narongchai Akrasanee, chairman of the Exim Bank, said that judging from the bank’s loan portfolio, Cambodia was the most popular investment destination for Thai businessmen. The Cambodian government is welcoming overseas investments and the return on investment in Cambodia is the highest when compared with other countries in the region. 

Pitsanu Lianmahasarn, deputy permanent secretary to the Commerce Ministry, said businesses with high potential in these countries were contract farming and any business that benefited from the Generalised System of Preferences granted to those countries so that products could be made at low costs and then exported.  (Thai News Service, Source: The Financial Times Limited) 

Click here to downloand a very good paper by Dr. Thanyathip Sripana, PhD

In the mid-1970s, the number of Vietnamese in Thailand was estimated at between 60,000 and 70,000, most of them in the Northeast. Three broad categories of Vietnamese were in the country. The first were the descendants of persons who fled from political upheaval and persecution during the precolonial era in the late eighteenth century and through much of the nineteenth century. Most of them settled either in Bangkok or in the area southeast of it, and many of their descendants were absorbed into Thai society, although some still lived in villages that were identifiably Vietnamese. Many who came in the nineteenth century were refugees from anti-Catholic persecution by rulers in Cochinchina (southern Vietnam, around the Mekong Delta) before the French established political control over that area. The second category consisted of persons who opposed the establishment of French domination over all Vietnam in 1884 and presumably expected their stay in Thailand to be short. With some exceptions, however, their descendants and those of other Vietnamese who came to Thailand in the first decades of the twentieth century remained. The earliest arrivals in this category, like their predecessors, mostly came to southeast Thailand. Later immigrants tended to go to the Northeast. The third category included those who fled from Vietnam between the end of World War II in 1945 and the consolidation of North Vietnamese rule over all of Vietnam in 1975. For those who came after the Second Indochina War had ended, Thailand was simply a way station en route to somewhere else, usually the United States. In the mid-1970s, the number of Vietnamese in Thailand was estimated at between 60,000 and 70,000, most of them in the Northeast. Three broad categories of Vietnamese were in the country. The first were the descendants of persons who fled from political upheaval and persecution during the precolonial era in the late eighteenth century and through much of the nineteenth century. Most of them settled either in Bangkok or in the area southeast of it, and many of their descendants were absorbed into Thai society, although some still lived in villages that were identifiably Vietnamese. Many who came in the nineteenth century were refugees from anti-Catholic persecution by rulers in Cochinchina (southern Vietnam, around the Mekong Delta) before the French established political control over that area. The second category consisted of persons who opposed the establishment of French domination over all Vietnam in 1884 and presumably expected their stay in Thailand to be short. With some exceptions, however, their descendants and those of other Vietnamese who came to Thailand in the first decades of the twentieth century remained. The earliest arrivals in this category, like their predecessors, mostly came to southeast Thailand. Later immigrants tended to go to the Northeast. The third category included those who fled from Vietnam between the end of World War II in 1945 and the consolidation of North Vietnamese rule over all of Vietnam in 1975. For those who came after the Second Indochina War had ended, Thailand was simply a way station en route to somewhere else, usually the United States.Most of the 40,000 to 50,000 Vietnamese who came in 1946 and shortly thereafter were driven from Laos by the French, who were then reimposing their rule over all of Indochina. More Vietnamese came later, and, like those who came in the 1920s and 1930s, they expected to return to Vietnam. Between 1958 and 1964 (when the intensification of the war in Vietnam inhibited their return), arrangements were made for the repatriation of Vietnamese to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), and an estimated 40,000 left Thailand. Over the years a few families went to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The movements of this period, both voluntary and involuntary, left between 60,000 and 70,000 Vietnamese in Thailand, an undetermined portion of which were post-World War II migrants who could not or would not return to their homeland.

In the mid-1970s, the number of Vietnamese in Thailand was estimated at between 60,000 and 70,000, most of them in the Northeast. Three broad categories of Vietnamese were in the country. The first were the descendants of persons who fled from political upheaval and persecution during the precolonial era in the late eighteenth century and through much of the nineteenth century. Most of them settled either in Bangkok or in the area southeast of it, and many of their descendants were absorbed into Thai society, although some still lived in villages that were identifiably Vietnamese. Many who came in the nineteenth century were refugees from anti-Catholic persecution by rulers in Cochinchina (southern Vietnam, around the Mekong Delta) before the French established political control over that area. The second category consisted of persons who opposed the establishment of French domination over all Vietnam in 1884 and presumably expected their stay in Thailand to be short. With some exceptions, however, their descendants and those of other Vietnamese who came to Thailand in the first decades of the twentieth century remained. The earliest arrivals in this category, like their predecessors, mostly came to southeast Thailand. Later immigrants tended to go to the Northeast. The third category included those who fled from Vietnam between the end of World War II in 1945 and the consolidation of North Vietnamese rule over all of Vietnam in 1975. For those who came after the Second Indochina War had ended, Thailand was simply a way station en route to somewhere else, usually the United States.Most of the 40,000 to 50,000 Vietnamese who came in 1946 and shortly thereafter were driven from Laos by the French, who were then reimposing their rule over all of Indochina. More Vietnamese came later, and, like those who came in the 1920s and 1930s, they expected to return to Vietnam. Between 1958 and 1964 (when the intensification of the war in Vietnam inhibited their return), arrangements were made for the repatriation of Vietnamese to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), and an estimated 40,000 left Thailand. Over the years a few families went to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The movements of this period, both voluntary and involuntary, left between 60,000 and 70,000 Vietnamese in Thailand, an undetermined portion of which were post-World War II migrants who could not or would not return to their homeland.