After pandemic-related harsh lockdowns and weak growth in 2021, the Vietnamese economy experienced a tremendous upswing in 2022. Consumption, investments, and industrial production have all strongly rebounded. GDP increased by 8.02% in 2022 compared to the previous year, the highest increase in years between 2011-2022. Vietnam is thus among the fastest-growing economies in Asia. Vietnam's economic growth is forecasted at 6.3% for 2023. 

The machinery sector in Vietnam is weakly positioned. Although the Vietnamese government has been pursuing the goal of developing a national machinery construction industry for years, local manufacturers can only produce simple equipment. Consequently, Vietnam's further industrialization will heavily rely on the import of machinery in the future. In the field of machine tools, Germany was listed as the 5th delivery country, after suppliers from China, Japan, South Korea, and the Taiwan region. However, German manufacturers were able to maintain their position as the most important western delivery country. After declines in 2020 and 2021, exports of machine tools from Germany to Vietnam increased by more than 40% in the first 9 months of 2022, with a wide range of machine types being delivered. 

The German machine tool industry offers technological solutions that are valued by customers in Vietnam. German technology enjoys an excellent reputation in Vietnam.
Given the Asian dominance and the potential of the Vietnamese market, German manufacturers should strengthen or expand their presence in this growth market. 

Against this background, the VDW, together with the AHK Vietnam, is organizing a technology symposium in Ho Chi Minh City for the third time after 2016 and 2019.