Groups aim to keep trade with Vietnam on fast track

State exports to the country tripled in 5 years to $12.3 million

Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006

In 1975, Tony Hoang left Vietnam at the age of 9 with his family as part of the wave who immigrated to the United States after the long war. He has yet to return, but he wants to — this time to do business.

Hoang was one of many Vietnamese Americans and others who attended a meeting last week in Rockville with Michael W. Marine, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, to discuss business opportunities there and other issues. The meeting was organized by the Maryland Vietnamese Mutual Association, a Silver Spring organization that has supported the local Vietnamese community since 1982.

Hoang, CEO of Noble Vision, a Herndon, Va., information technology company, said he wants to provide high-tech infrastructure in Vietnam when it’s ‘‘safe to do so.”

‘‘The risk factor [for businesses] is so high now,” Hoang said, referring to the need for Vietnam to have its trade status upgraded and relations between the U.S. and Vietnam normalized before many business officials will feel comfortable investing a significant amount of time and money in projects there. ‘‘We have to have the government’s involvement.”

Exports from Maryland companies to Vietnam almost tripled from 2000 to 2005 to $12.3 million, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. In the first six months of this year, exports from Maryland were up by 16 percent over the same period last year.

Maryland’s top export to Vietnam last year was chemicals for manufacturing, with almost $5 million worth, or 41 percent of the total, according to the Commerce Department. Fabric mill products ranked second at 19 percent, followed by metals for manufacturing , computers and electronics products. The latter is Maryland’s top export throughout Asia.

A similar growth in exports to Vietnam has been seen nationally, with an increase to $1.2 billion last year from $368 million in 2000. California and Texas were the most active states.

Vietnam has come a long way economically since the 1970s, though it still has strides to make in certain areas, such as its legal system, Marine said. He requested that he not be quoted during a question-and-answer session with the Vietnamese group, but he spoke to a reporter afterward.

‘‘Businesses have to do due diligence there before they enter the country,” said Marine, who was appointed to the Vietnamese post in 2004 and has held positions in embassies in China, Fiji, Kenya, Russia and Germany. He has a bachelor’s in Chinese history from the University of California at Santa Barbara and speaks Mandarin Chinese.

‘‘They have a fledgling legal system in comparison to the legal support we’re used to,” he said.

John S. Connor, a Glen Burnie freight and logistics services company, has exported products such as construction machinery to Vietnam, said Laura Hayes, the company’s marketing manager. The company opened an office in China earlier this year.

‘‘Asia has been a very good market for us,” Hayes said.

Hoan Dang, chairman and president of the Maryland Vietnamese organization, said he didn’t experience bitterness from residents there when he returned for visits in 2000 and 2002. Like Hoang, he was a boy when his family left Vietnam in 1975.

‘‘People are very friendly,” Dang said. ‘‘Many were born after the war ended.”

Companies and individuals in Maryland have a key role to play to partner and invest in Vietnam, he said. ‘‘We want to see more investment in the country,” Dang said.

Christopher Foster, deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, said state officials will consider opening a trade office in Vietnam. The Maryland division has opened 11 foreign offices, including in China, Taiwan, Singapore and India.

‘‘We will take a close look at Vietnam,” said Foster, who attended the Vietnamese meeting and helped chair another meeting last week on international trade during a U.S.-China women business conference at the Montgomery County Conference Center in North Bethesda. ‘‘We have to develop a bridge in Vietnam.”

State-coordinated trade missions to China, Taiwan, India and Korea this year have helped lay important groundwork for Maryland companies to increase their business in those nations, said Foster and Benjamin H. Wu, state assistant secretary of business development for the region that includes Montgomery, Prince George’s and Frederick counties.

Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington, who also attended the Vietnamese meeting, said the United States and Vietnam are growing closer as the latter nation is on its way to joining the World Trade Organization. He expected Congress to soon debate whether to upgrade Vietnam’s trade status, perhaps next month.

The international efforts have helped Maryland companies and organizations win contracts and form key partnerships, officials said. A recent memorandum of understanding was signed between RNL Bio Co., a South Korean stem cell bioscience company, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for joint efforts on stem cell research. RNL plans to open a research office in Baltimore.

Storewiz, a Gaithersburg provider of online data compression products, also recently formed a partnership with Tokyo Electron Device of Japan to market its products in that nation.

This report originally appeared in The Business Gazette.