Seminar «Da Nang: The Next FDI Gateway»

   Foreign direct investment keeps moving into Da Nang, but the city has its own mechanics at the door: a free trade zone, manufacturing rules, ready-built factories for lease and a separate financial track. Half a day in Sơn Trà is given over to exactly those mechanics, with lawyers, advisers and people who have already brought plants and offices here.

   The seminar is run by Rödl Vietnam, the Vietnamese arm of the German consulting group Rödl & Partner, together with Rödl Southeast Asia. The framing is deliberately narrow: manufacturing, software and financial services, the three sectors that bring most foreign companies to the city. Sessions cover market entry, the Free Trade Zone, legal frameworks, real estate and the investment niches currently open.

   Speakers announced for the programme:

• — Michael Wekezer, Managing Director, Rödl Vietnam
• — Christopher Vanloon, Chairman, Central Vietnam Business Alliance
• — Austin Weyers, Vice Director, Central Vietnam Realty and Managing Director, Central Vietnam Ready Built Factory

   A separate panel takes on «Da Nang as an FDI Destination: Opportunities and Challenges». Around the table are Oscar Njuguna of the Vietnam International Financial Centre, Lawrence Lennon MRICS of CBRE Vietnam, Christopher Vanloon of the Central Vietnam Business Alliance and Mieke Claerhout, Founder and General Manager of The Marketing House Vietnam, with Lutz, Managing Director of Rödl Vietnam, moderating.

   The audience is clear enough: owners and country managers of foreign companies weighing up Central Vietnam, investors in property and production sites, and finance people. It will be most useful to anyone choosing between Da Nang, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City who wants the constraints spelled out rather than a regional sales pitch.

   The morning closes with a networking session alongside the speakers and the Rödl Vietnam team. That is usually the real reason to come: ten minutes with a lawyer or a developer saves weeks of email.

   Attendance is by prior registration.

   If Central Vietnam is still just a line in somebody else's deck, this morning gives it numbers, names and a contact list.