Taiwan and Vietnam signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday to boost high-tech exchanges and cooperation, the non-profit Institute for Information Industry said.
The memorandum -- mainly calling for increased Taiwanese investment in Vietnam's information technology industry -- was inked by the institute's chairman Ke Jyh-sheng (
Relocating some of the nation's investments to Vietnam will help reduce the risks from concentrating too much investment in China, Ke said during the ceremony.
Ke, who led institute officials to Vietnam for a fact-finding trip in January, said that Vietnam has witnessed ever-expanding economic growth over the past several years, averaging 7 percent to 8 percent annually.
He also cited International Telecommunications Union data that shows Vietnam registered the world's second-highest growth in the telecommunications industry in recent years, behind only China.
He attributed Vietnam's success mainly to the country's abundant human resources.
Taiwan, which remains the largest investor in Vietnam, will benefit by continuing to increase its investment, Ke said.
Pham said that Vietnam, a relative "newcomer" to high-tech manufacturing, hopes to strengthen exchanges with Taiwan in this regard.
As of the end of last November, Taiwanese firms had channeled US$8.13 billion into Vietnam, constituting 13.74 percent of all foreign investment in Vietnam, the institute's data showed.
Vietnam applied to join the WTO at the end of last year, gaining entry to the organization at the beginning of this year.
The Vietnamese government has announced that it will lower import tariffs on 330 categories of information technology and telecommunications products between next year and 2010 to attract more foreign investment and help accelerate the development of its high-tech industries.
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