Vietnam holds int'l expo on shipbuilding, maritime transport

HANOI (PNA/Xinhua) -- The Sixth International Exhibition on Shipbuilding Technology and Maritime Transport (Vietship) 2012 opened here Tuesday.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said that the expo is a good opportunity for domestic businesses to seek partners and promote business in the field, and contribute to national development.

The global financial crisis has direct negative impacts on the world's shipbuilding and maritime transport, including that in Vietnam. In addition, Vietnam is facing difficulties in management, finance, capacity and technology to develop the shipbuilding industry, Hai said.

The Vietnamese government has set up plans to restructure the shipbuilding industry into a multi-ownership sector, with state-of- the-art technology and good management capacity to meet the country's demand for development, he added.

Vietship 2012 has 300 stalls by 200 companies, and two-thirds of them are foreign groups from developed shipbuilding countries including Japan, South Korea, China, Netherlands, Poland, Finland, France, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Russia and Spain. Participants include design consultants, manufacturers, equipment suppliers, owners of ships and shipbuilding plants. Their latest products and technologies would be on display at the expo.

Seminars on specific topics will be held during the expo, which will last until March 1. (PNA/Xinhua)