At the event (Source: VNA)
Vo Tan Thanh, Director of the VietnamChamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)’s Ho Chi Minh City Branch, held that Vietnamand Hong Kong are key major trade partners of each other with bilateral trade reaching9.2 billion USD in 2017, up 22 percent from 2016.
As of June 2018, Hong Kong wasthe sixth largest foreign investor in Vietnam with a total capital of nearly 19billion USD, he said.
With the ASEAN-Hong Kong freetrade agreement, trade and investment between Vietnam and Hong Kong are bothexpected to grow fiercely in the near future. Vietnam is encouraging firms toexpand investment abroad to popularise Vietnamese products across the world.
Thanh hailed Hong Kong as a free, developed economy with astrategic location, modern infrastructure, and large capital inflows.
According to him, if Vietnamese enterprises venture onto thismarket, they could access a massive capital source and tap into one of the world’sbusiest seaports, thereby bringing goods to even further markets.
Stephen Phillips, General Directorof Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong (IK), said Hong Kongis calling for investment in the fields of financial services, consumer goods,transportation and industry, tourism-restaurant-hotels, technologicalinnovation, and innovative industries.
He lauded Hong Kong for its active international businessenvironment, convenient business registration procedures, modern infrastructure,and low tariffs, adding that it now has a mechanism to provide support fornewly-established and mature firms, from planning and opportunity evaluation tovisa application and marketing.
Phillips said business opportunities in Hong Kong are widespreadfor Vietnamese enterprises. However, other issues should be considered,including high office rent, workforce costs, and intense competition with othermultinational corporations, he noted.
Therefore, the IK representative suggested opening sales,marketing, and financial offices in Hong Kong to tap into existing advantagesin managing supply chains, while placing logistics facilities and warehouseselsewhere in order to save costs.–VNA
