The senior official made the statement at a conference jointly held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Alstom Group (Switzerland) in Hanoi on December 14 to provide an insight into Vietnam’s potential for producing support equipment for the energy industry.

Mr Hai said it’s the businesses’ limited ability to research and lack of cooperation that have led to the support industries being underdeveloped.

The Deputy PM urged that the mechanics sector must make a structural shift in order to join the division of labour in the international manufacturing chain as well as promoting closer and more effective cooperation between mechanical enterprises, the mechanics association and the government.

He highlighted the conference as an important venue for Vietnamese businesses to prove their capacity to become highly competitive providers of equipment for international partners with regard to prices, labour and delivery. He added that the event was the first step for concerned parties to assess Vietnamese businesses’ capabilities and divide orders of providing mechanics for Alstom.

Mr Hai affirmed that he is ready to engage in dialogues with enterprises and the mechanics association to help address their difficulties.

Alstom Director for the Asia-Pacific Laurent Fortier told the conference that his firm seeks to cooperate with Vietnamese businesses to produce mechanical equipment and provide maintenance services with competitive prices for hydro, thermal and wind power plants with a capacity of up to 600MW in Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. He also confirmed that the company will assist Vietnamese partners in terms of technology and managerial experience as part of its policy to give Vietnam top priority in the region.

The President of the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Industry, Nguyen Van Thu, said some Vietnamese businesses such as LILAMA, MIE, HAMECO and Quang Trung Mechanics are completely capable of providing international-standard equipment for Alstom.