Newsletter No. 1

 

January 2004

 

 

 

Dear Friends,

 

Welcome to our first Newsletter, which will be published on a quarterly basis. Our publication aims at sharing information and business opportunities between Israeli and Vietnamese businessmen. We highly appreciate receiving your comments and suggestions so that our newsletters can further contribute to facilitate economic and trade ties between the two countries.

 

On the occasion of the New Year, I sincerely wish you all happiness, success and prosperity.

 

Thank you for your continued cooperation.

 

Sincerely,

 

Avraham Nir

Ambassador

Embassy of Israel, Hanoi

Tel: 84-4-8433140

Fax: 84-4-8435760

Email: eco.sec@emisrael-vn.org

 

Contents:

 

·         Vietnam’s Economy in Brief

·         Israel’s Economy in Brief

·         Upcoming Events in Vietnam

·         Upcoming Events in Israel

·         Business Opportunities

 

Vietnam’s Economy in Brief

Recorded Economic Achievements in 2003:

·         Vietnam Vietnam’s GDP growth for 2003 reached 7.24, the highest over the last six years and the second highest rate worldwide after China despite of bad impacts of SARS, the Iraqi War and natural disasters.

·         Growth rate of industrial production value reached 16 percent, the highest in the past three years.

·         Growth rate of added value in service sector estimated to reach 6.6 percent, the highest in the past  six years

·         Rice exports reached the highest volume of 4.2 million tonnes. Value of aqua-product exports, in the first time reached U$2.2 billion.

·         The country licensed 620 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with total registered investment capital of $1.55 billion, up by 13.8% against 2002. 

·         Total export value reached U$19.8 billion, an increase of 18.8% over 2002, exceeding the year target.
 

Challenges and weaknesses:

·         Vietnam’s total import value in 2003 reached U$24.995 billion, an increase of 26.7 percent against 2002, causing trade deficit of U$5.152 billion due to the upsurge in medicine, automobile and gold prices the price increase, the fertilizer and petrol fevers and importation of aircrafts.

·         Quality and efficiency of growth and competitiveness are low: the labour cost in Vietnam is 1.5 to 2 times lower than the regional countries but the cost per product unit is 1.2-1.5 times higher. Most of industrial machineries are 2-3 generation backward.

·         The land rental, electricity and transportation costs are still high to make local goods less competitive.

·         The unplanned and improper investment in sugar and cement production leads to the surplus and uncompetitive products.

Targets and solutions for 2004:

·         An ambitious GDP growth rate of 8% is set for 2004 in a bid for WTO accession in 2005; 11-12% growth rate is set for export turnover, 8-9% for import turnover, 15% for industry, 7.5% for services and 4.6% for agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

·         The role of private sector has been recognized and honoured as a major factor for the country's development.

·         Creating more favourable conditions to attract foreign investment through administration reform, one-price policy...

·         Continuation of rearrangement, renovation, improvement on the effectiveness of the State owned sector, speeding up equitization process among State owned enterprises.

·         Education is considered as a national strategy to help the country keeping pace with the regional and the world economies.

 

Israel’s Economy in Brief

The Israeli economy performance:

·         After two years of declines in industrial exports (excluding diamonds) to Eastern Europe, the figure has risen 13% for the corresponding period. Exports during the first 10 months of 2003 have totaled $518 million

·         During 2003, tourism has increased by 20% over 2002

·         $765 million was raised in venture capital in the first three quarters of 2003, up from $702 million in the preceding three quarters

·         Sales by retail chains- especially of foodstuffs – have risen steeply since the beginning of the year.

·         Israel was ranked among the top 10 most promising emerging markets according to “ The Economist” (21/9/03) who ranked the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the Israeli capital market among the 10 most promising in the world.

 

Venture Capital Investments

·         US venture capital fund giant, Access partners announced in June 2003, and reiterated in December 2003, that of the $500 million raised for investments in Europe and the Middle East, $250-300 million was earmarked for Israeli companies

·         In September 2003, Nokia Venture Partners, the venture capital arm of Finnish giant Nokia, opened an investment office in Israel

·         Foreign venture capital funds continue to show confidence in their Israeli partners. In June 2003, advent International injected $40 million into Gemini Israel Funds to cooperate on joint seed ventures in the Israeli technology sector.

 

Increasing of long-term investments in Israel

·         In December 2003, Philips invested $30 million in its Haifa based subsidiary Philips Medical Systems to support production of CT machines

·         In August 2003, GE Medical Systems, the medical equipment division of General Electric, began to expand its investment in research and development in Israel. The new project in cooperation with Tel Hasomer’s Sheba medical center will be in advanced infrastructures for MRI development

·         In July 2003, Samsung, the Korean communications giant set up a new development center in Herzliya

·         In June 2003, Veritas Software (USA) completed the acquisition of Israeli company Precise Software for $609 million

 

Global factors responsible for the Israeli slowdown

·         Investment in Israeli hi-tech has mirrored investment in the US in recent years. Essentially, when investment figures drop in the US, they drop in Israel by an almost identical percentage. The same trend applies to increases.

·         Similarly, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange tends to mirror results on Wall St. A graph of losses and gains on the TA-100 shadows any similar graph of the Nasdaq or Dow Jones index.

 

 

Upcoming Events in Vietnam

 

             

16^th – 17^th February 2004

 

Seminars – Israel’s Dairy Cattle Farming- Experience and Technology

 

Speaker: Mr. Lior Yaron, Israeli Dairy Cattle Expert and Project Manager

Topics: Israel’s dairy farming and management, high production dairy cows under heat stress, forage preservation and silage

 

Organizer: National Institute of Animal Husbandry

Tel: 844 8389775; Fax: 844 8386127

E-mail: vccuong@netnam.vn

 

Service of Agricultural and Rural Development

Tel: 848 8294222; Fax: 848 8294764

E-mail: sonongnghiep@hcm.vnn.vn

 

Venue: 16 February 2004 in Hanoi

 17^th February 2004 in Ho Chi Minh city

 

4^th – 7^th March 2004

 

GMS Trade Fair – Greater Mekong Sub-region Trade Fair 2004 – Exhibition on agriculture, food processing, aquaculture, handicrafts, furniture, garment, footwear...

 

Organizer: Center for International Exhibition & Trade Fair (CIEF)

Tel: 844 5742017; Fax: 844 5742020

E-mail: gmstradefair@hn.vnn.vn

 

Venue: Hanoi

 

17^th – 18^th March 2004

 

Seminars– Israel-Vietnam Opportunities of Cooperation – Focusing on agriculture, food processing, water management and telecommunication

 

Organizer: The Embassy of Israel in Hanoi and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Tel: 844 8433140; Fax: 844 8435760

E-mail: eco.sec@emisrael-vn.org

 

Venue: 17^th March 2004 in Ho Chi Minh City

 18^th March 2004 in Hanoi

 

 

 Back to Contents

 

Upcoming Events in Israel

 

24^th –25^th February 2004

 

IMA events at GSM Cannes 2004 – IMA (Israel Mobile Association) will partner up with various organizations in order to bring together senior players from worldwide wireless sector.

Currently IMA has already finalized cooperation with: IBM & HP. IMA is in the process of cooperation wit other organizations such as Ericsson, Siemens, Orange, Nokia, Samsung, and Microsoft

The IMA events are another opportunity to approach new contacts among the mobile operators, network and handset vendors, marketing channels and business partners. For more information please contact us at Tel: 66-2-2049240 or econisra@asiaaccess.net.the    

 

1^st – 3^rd March 2004

 

MEDAX 2004 – The 15^th International Exhibition for Medical Technologies and Hospital Supplies will take place in Tel Aviv.

For more information about the exhibition please contact Expo@stier.co.il

For more information about the Israeli medical sector click here!

 

 Back to Contents

 

 

Business Opportunities

SARS – Products & Solutions from Israel

 

Company	Products/services	Requests
Oridion Medical   www.oridion.com     kathy.brown@oridion.com  Contact:  Ms. Kathy Brown	Medical Device – Capnography: Screening Patients and monitoring breathing patterns. Our partners ( Philips Medical) are already using our technology for SARS	Partners/ distributors
Orex Radiography www.orex-cr.com    Contact: Ms. Dana Dvir E-mail: danad@orex-cr.com	PCCR 1417- Computed Radiography. Scans 41-81 plates per hour	Partners/ distributors
Medic4all Israel     www.medic4all.com Contact: Mr. Doron Korman        E-mail: doronk@medic4all.com	Mini click Wristwatch- Medical monitoring device. Monitor the people at home and transmit the medical data to remote call center.	Partners/ distributors
SAREL www.sarel.co.il Contact: Mr. Jashua Turnovsky      E-mail: jashua@sarel.co.il	Latex Gloves for Surgical & Diagnostics Masks	Partners/ distributors
Orgenics www.orgenics.com Contact: Ms. Rosanne Zuk                            E-mail: rosanne@orgenics.co.il	Rapid Elisa tests for respiratory disease	Partners/ distributors
Dmatek www.dmatek.com Contact: Mr. Dan Zeeli E-mail: dan@dmatek.com	Presence & active monitoring (real time) systems for supervision of individuals directly exposed to SARS	Partners/ distributors
Savion Industries        www.savion.co.il    Contact: Mr. Larry Adar                      E-mail:  larry@savion.co.il	Emergency Hospital Stretcher- Prompt delivery, many options incl. X-Ray capability	Partners/ distributors
Medisim  www.medisim.com Contact: Mr. Ilan Vadai       E-mail: ilan_v@medisim.co.il	Instant Thermometer	Partners/ distributors
Micon www.micon.co.il Contact: Mr. Moshe Alpert                       E-mail: moshe@micon.co.il	Mask, Digital Thermometer, Quarantine Suit, Alcohol Gel + Alcohol Cotton Pad. Thermometer - for private sector Quarantine suit - for hospitals Pads - for all sectors	Partners/ distributors
RAD Natural Technologies            www.rad-int.com Contact: Mr. Gilad Cohen                            E-mail: gilad@rad-int.com	Origasept – Natural anti bacterial spray	Partners/ distributors
DryKor                                            www.drykor.com Contact: Ms. Ronnie Eran-Wright                 E-mail: ronnie.eran@drykor.com	DryLine (DL) 1000- SARS air transmission control	Partners/ distributors
Pollak International                      www.euroband.com Contact: Ms. Roz Bak                                   E-mail: pollak@euroband.com	Emergency escape mask See the product’s web site:   www.muski.com	Partners/ distributors

 

 

Other requests from Israel

 

Company	Business activities	Looking for
Gweb Export Tel: 972 5534033 E-mail: trllrt@hotmail.com Contact: Mr. Tamir Geva, Export Rep.	Exporting computers and hardware parts from Israel to other countries	- Computer & Hardware wholesalers. - Computer & Hardware distributors. - Computer & Hardware retailers.
Edu-Cut P.O.Box 226, Elqana 44814, Israel Tel: +972 (3) 906-3849 Fax: +972 (3) 936-3001 Mobile: +972 (54) 936001 Email: edu-cut@bezeqint.net Contact: Ami Mintzer	Exporting computers	PC distributors, service providers
Alliance Tire Company Tel: 972 4 6240546 Fax: 972 4 6240555 E-mail: moshef@alliance.co.il Contact: Mr. Moshe Friedman, Marketing and Sales Manager	Developing and manufacturing a wide range of tires. Alliance tire has been exported to over 65 countries	Potential dealers of agricultural, industrial road tires

 

Opportunities from Vietnam

 

Company	Business activities	Looking for
Vu Hung Co Ltd 193 C2 Ba Trieu St., Hanoi Tel: 844 9741733 Fax: 844 9740056 E-mail: nanhdung_124@hn.vnn.vn Contact: Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung, Vice Director	Cultivation, breeding