Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Ngo Huong Nam speaks at the dialogue (Photo: VNA)Sydney (VNA) – Opportunities for Australian firms to invest in Vietnam have neverbeen better than now when the Southeast Asian economy is growing rapidly, saidparticipants at a Vietnam-Australia business dialogue held in Sydney on July22.
In hisopening speech, Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Ngo Huong Nam expressed hisdelights at the two nations’ trade growth, which averaged 12 percent in thepast decade, the highest recorded between Australia and an ASEAN member state.
He said 2019has all needed conditions for the ties to thrive, mentioning the Vietnam –Australia strategic partnership agreement as well as the recently-taking-effectComprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific (CPTPP) that both aremembers.
The diplomatnoted the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area
(AANZAFTA)that came into force in 2010, and the Regional Comprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP), whose negotiations are likely to end this year, are drivingforce to propel the bilateral trade forward.
Nam urgedVietnamese and Australian firms to seize opportunities to turn the twocountries’ sound political relations into practical economic benefits.
Bui VanKhanh, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Vietnam’s Hoa Binh province, saidlocal authorities will offer an open business climate and highest preferentialtax levels for investors in line with the law.
Heintroduced Hoa Binh’s sectors most favoured for investment attraction includingsupport industry, clean agriculture, eco- and cultural tourism, andinfrastructure development.
LeadingVietnamese companies like TMS group, Dai Nam Son and FPT group took theoccasion to showcase their strengths and call for cooperation from theirAustralian peers in real estate, trade, tourism, education, and IT.
ParticipatingAustralian firms said they want to know more about Vietnam’s business climateand investment opportunities.
ByronPatching, cofounder of the Australian-based XAct Solutions, said now is amongbest times to invest in Vietnam, particularly in real estate, shopping andtourism.
In 2018, Vietnam– Australia trade surpassed 7.7 billion USD, up 19 percent on year. Currently,Vietnam is the 15th biggest trade partner of Australia, whileAustralia is Vietnam’s 7th largest trade partner.
Australia isdirectly investing in about 400 projects in Vietnam worth over 2 billion USD.Meanwhile, the number of Vietnamese-funded projects in Australia has so far amountedto some 50, with total value exceeding 500 million USD. -VNA
VNA
