British eye market after lifting of ban

THE British Chamber of Commerce will lead a high-powered trade delegation to Vietnam next month in an attempt to learn more about the country's extensive infrastructure needs and ways to participate in its development.

Brigadier Christopher Hammerbeck, executive director of the chamber in Hong Kong, said yesterday the 19-person delegation would arrive in Hanoi on March 14 and leave for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial centre, on March 16.

The delegation will include Gammon Construction, Costain Civil Engineering, Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick and Partners, Standard Chartered Bank, Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, S.G. Warburg, Kleinwort Benson, Inchcape Pacific and Thorn Lighting.

''Given our expertise in civil engineering, banking and financial services, we feel we have a constructive role to play in the upgrading of Vietnam's infrastructure and the way the delegation is made up reflects that,'' Brigadier Hammerbeck said.

He said the delegation had adopted a ''layered'' approach, with the construction and engineering firms getting support from the financial community on questions relating to raising capital for infrastructure projects.

''The Vietnamese understand that before there can be any leap forward in a market economy, they must put their infrastructure in place,'' Brigadier Hammerbeck said.

The Vietnamese Government has estimated that the country will need about US$50 billion in infrastructure investment to double gross domestic product (GDP) by the year 2000.