Connecting Thai businesses to invest in Ho Chi Minh City

Information at the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh said that Thailand is a major trading partner of Vietnam in ASEAN. Regarding investment, Thailand is investing 13 billion USD in Vietnam while Vietnam is investing just over 30 million USD in Thailand. Thai investment in Vietnam is about 13 billion USD, but investment by Thai expatriates in the country is still very limited. We hope that Ho Chi Minh City will have a mechanism to encourage and support so that more and more Thai expatriates return to contribute to socio-economic development while enjoying the development achievements in their homeland.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand is very interested in promoting bilateral and multilateral relations with Vietnam. There are 19 provinces twinned with Thailand, of which Ho Chi Minh City is twinned with Bangkok. Currently, Vietnam is the second country to have many localities twinned with Thailand. There are more than 100 thousand Vietnamese people in Thailand. Thai expatriates actively participate in movement activities launched by Vietnam. Always look towards the homeland, unite, and healthily support the policies of the Party and State of Vietnam. Thai overseas businesses have good economic development, and always want to cooperate and invest in Vietnam.

On behalf of the delegation, comrade Tran Kim Yen, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in Ho Chi Minh City, informed about the delegation’s activities in Thailand to learn about Thailand’s distribution and investment activities with Vietnam. During the recent epidemic period, the City received a lot of support from the overseas community abroad, including Thai expatriates, who helped Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular overcome the epidemic period. In the coming time, Ho Chi Minh City hopes to strengthen the connection of Vietnamese products to the world, including Thailand, so we look forward to the Embassy’s connection in promoting trade cooperation between businesses. Ho Chi Minh City and Thailand.

Ho Chi Minh City is an attractive investment destination for Thai businesses

Next, the delegation had a working session with the Thai Board of Investment (BOI). Expressing her joy to welcome the Ho Chi Minh City delegation to learn about the retail system in Thailand, Ms. Sonklin Ploymee, Deputy Secretary General of the Thai Board of Investment (BOI), affirmed that Ho Chi Minh City is an attractive investment destination. guidance from Thai businesses, Thai businesses are very interested in the Ho Chi Minh City market. Every year, BOI organizes training classes for Thai businesses wishing to invest abroad and investment training classes in Ho Chi Minh City always attract a large number of businesses to participate. In particular, Thai businesses are gradually resuming activities after the Covid-19 epidemic, starting to implement business plans and projects, and more Thai businesses will learn and promote investment in Vietnam. .

To date, Thailand has 670 valid projects with a total registered capital of 13 billion USD, ranking 9th out of 139 countries investing in Vietnam and ranking 3rd among ASEAN countries investing in Vietnam, after Singapore. Thai investors invest mainly in the fields of processing and manufacturing industry, production, distribution of electricity, gas, water, real estate business, wholesale and retail. Investment projects are concentrated in Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces such as Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria – Vung Tau.

In the opposite direction, Vietnam has 17 investment projects in Thailand, registered capital of 32.8 million USD, ranking 33/79 countries and territories. Projects are mainly in the fields of manufacturing and processing industry, real estate business and wholesale and retail.

Talking at the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Nguyen Phuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City, said that trade exchange activities between Vietnam and Thailand have recently developed well and are on the rise. Two-way export turnover is leaning towards Thailand: from the beginning of the year until now, Thai enterprises are exporting about 12 billion USD to Vietnam while Vietnam’s exports to Thailand are about 7 billion USD. The reason for this difference is because Thailand’s trade promotion activities to Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City, are very strong. Festivals and fairs introducing Thai goods taking place continuously in Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces have created conditions for Thai goods to reach Vietnamese consumers. In addition, many large Thai businesses and corporations such as CP, BJC, Central Retail… have invested in Vietnam, paving the way for more and more Thai goods to be present in Vietnam. Meanwhile, investment by Vietnamese enterprises in Thailand is still very modest, leading to low exports of Vietnamese goods to Thailand.

Comrade Nguyen Nguyen Phuong expressed his wish for BOI to share information and update preferential mechanisms and policies for Vietnamese enterprises investing in Thailand.

Affirming that one of BOI’s main tasks is to accompany foreign investors looking for business opportunities in Thailand, BOI representatives said they are ready to support Vietnamese businesses in connecting and finding potential partners. ability to cooperate. Currently, Thailand is offering many incentives to attract investment in the fields of biotechnology, circular economy, green economy, infrastructure development, logistics… In particular, high-tech investors are encouraged. , applying science and technology to produce competitive and environmentally friendly products, and fulfilling social responsibility. In particular, the Thai government is currently giving many tax incentives, land, financial support… to foreign investors.

Talking at the meeting, Vice Chairwoman of the City People’s Committee Phan Thi Thang further shared that Ho Chi Minh City is currently interested in developing the supporting technology industry, and hopes that Thai businesses will be interested in cooperating in this field to meet the needs of customers. market needs.

On behalf of the delegation, comrade Tran Kim Yen thanked the Committee for information about Thailand’s support policy and investment situation in Vietnam. At the same time, it affirmed that Ho Chi Minh City welcomes and creates favorable conditions for foreign businesses, including Thai ones, to invest in the city. He hopes that the cooperative relationship between the two sides will be promoted, so that businesses from both sides will have many opportunities to increase investment cooperation, especially in the field of trade.

On the same afternoon, the delegation visited the project “According to One Bangkok – Smart City” in Bangkok – Thailand and surveyed the MM Food Service wholesale point (Thailand).

Minh Hiep

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