Morgan on Vietnam trade mission
First Minister Rhodri Morgan is to head a Welsh trade mission to Vietnam - the first since devolution. A highlight of the five-day mission to Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City will be the marking of the Far Eastern expansion of a Cardiff shipping firm. Graig Shipping has secured a multi-million pound contract to build 15 new ships in Vietnam.
Nine Welsh companies are taking part in the WalesTrade International mission which departs at the weekend. Graig Shipping was founded in 1919, during Cardiff's heyday as one of the world's most important ports when there were more than 200 shipping firms in the city. Still one of only two remaining shipping companies in Cardiff, Mr Morgan opened Graig Shipping's new Shanghai office during his trip to China last September.
Now it has won a major shipbuilding contract in partnership with the Vietnamese national shipbuilding organisation, Vinashin. "This is a massive project to build large-scale merchant ships, backed at the very highest level in the Vietnam government and involving huge capital investment," said Mr Morgan, who last week welcomed the President of the Vietnamese Assembly Nguyen Van An to Wales. "I know that Graig Shipping remains passionate about its Welsh roots and I am proud to see them flying the flag for Wales in the Far East."
A range of sectors are represented on the trade mission including aviation, ultrasound equipment, security systems and IT - and even producers of specialist honey. "Vietnam is a huge market of 80 million people," said Mr Morgan. "Its economy is growing consistently at 7% to 8% per annum, and is going through a phase of rapid industrialisation and open market reforms."
The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce is now looking to support a business delegation on a return trip to Wales. And the Vietnamese Software Association will be visiting Wales in June.
BBC News - March 31, 2005
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