American-Korean Summit Conference: The "Golden" opportunity for Vietnamese Enterprises

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Vietnam will have more opportunities for cooperation and investment after the US-Trieu Summit.

According to statistics announced by the General Department of Customs, total import-export turnover in January 2019 reached more than USD 43 billion, the highest level compared to the first months of the year in recent years. Comparing to the same period in 2018, import and export turnover in 1/2019 was higher by nearly 2.9 billion USD, nearly double the average of about 23 billion USD / month for the whole period 2012-2018. This can be considered a record of import-export turnover in January 2019.

This is due to the open market strategy, actively participating in Vietnam's Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Therefore, Vietnam is increasingly becoming a solid destination for foreign investors. In addition, there is an international conference that is of interest to all the world, the US-Trieu Summit, and it is a rare opportunity for Vietnam to further strengthen investors' trust about a peaceful and stable country.

Talking to reporters from the Customs Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Tuong, senior advisor of Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA), said that when the US-Korea Summit is held in Vietnam, it will attract not only the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and US, but also South Korea and other countries around the world to Vietnam. Therefore, the most impacted sectors are trade and tourism.

“In my opinion, the successful organization of this conference in Vietnam is a great victory, from which we can attract more attention of foreign businesses when they want to invest in Vietnam, creating more opportunities to exchange and cooperate with foreign businesses. In particular, the commercial sector has more development opportunities that will lead to the rise of logistics service enterprises, increasing the ability to attract foreign investment in this field," Mr. Tuong emphasized.

In the same view, Mr. Phi Ngoc Trinh, General Director of Ho Guom Garment Corporation, said that the US-Korea Summit held in Vietnam would be a "golden" chance for Vietnamese businesses in seeking opportunities of cooperation and investment.

The reason is that the overseas trips of heads of state will often be accompanied by business delegations and businessmen. Therefore, when the two heads of state come to Vietnam, there will be many US and Korean businesses joining. After that, there will be seminars and meetings between businesses of countries.

In addition, Mr. Trinh said that this summit held in Vietnam is multipurpose. US President Donald Trump wants to show North Korea a picture of Vietnam after opening and cooperation with the US; Korean businesses will also see the potential to invest in Vietnam to enhance promotion.

Evidence for the above comments, according to statistics of Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA), after the VLA White Book 2018 was published, it immediately received great attention of foreign businesses.

By the end of January 2019, 53% of domestic enterprises and 47% of foreign enterprises from 53 countries have sought information on VLA White Book 2018. Of these 47%, there are 32% of US import-export enterprises. This figure shows the great interest of US businesses in investment and business opportunities in Vietnam.

Mr. Phi Ngoc Trinh added that Ho Guom Garment Corporation has up to 40% of exported goods to the US, making a big contribution to the company's revenue and profit. Therefore, although customers and partners are stable, through this conference, the prestige and cooperation potential for Ho Guom Garment Corporation in particular and the Vietnamese business community in general will be increased, attracting more customers and partners.

However, talking about difficulties in investment cooperation with foreign enterprises, according to Mr. Nguyen Tuong, Vietnam is currently only acting as an agent for the US in Vietnam instead of owning the service, while this is a big and important market.

Therefore, in order to enhance cooperation and take advantage of every opportunity, experts believe that the Vietnamese business community should be more sensitive, take initiative in seizing opportunities and need innovation to meet partners' needs and change production methods towards professionalism, efficiency.