Golden opportunities are awaiting Vietnamese businesses as the country actively engages in world trade liberalisation and economic integration and is thus becoming a highly attractive investment destination.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact and the free trade agreements (FTA) with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, for example, are expected to help Vietnamese businesses, especially small-and medium-sized ones, integrate deeper into the global supply chain.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is also a promising market, assisting Vietnamese exporters in forming partnerships with other member states as well as countries with existing FTAs with the community, including Japan, China and the Republic of Korea. These ties will further be enhanced with the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) slated for late 2015.

Big investment projects from multinational groups such as Samsung, Microsoft and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are also seen as a golden opportunity for businesses to gain a stronger foothold in the global market.

However, according to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), only 36 percent of Vietnamese businesses are currently involved in the global manufacturing network, compared to 60 percent in Malaysia and Thailand.

This significant gap is attributed to big-and medium-sized enterprises accounting for a mere 4 percent of the total Vietnamese businesses, resulting in weak global competitiveness, the VCCI said.

Experts cited the lack of long-term visions, competitiveness strategies, and connections as limitations of the local companies.

They suggested businesses create products with high levels of technology and added value to better participate in the global supply chain.

They also called for more support from the State and further investment in infrastructure and logistics industries to seize the up and coming opportunities.-VNA