Hong Kong firms seek more opportunities in Vietnam

Tina Phan, Director of Indochina - Trade Promotion Agency of Hong Kong, said at a seminar held recently in Ho Chi Minh City.
According to Tina Phan, there is a new wave of Hong Kong investors who are seeking opportunities to invest in transport infrastructure and waste water treatment projects in Vietnam.
From now to January 2018, the Trade Promotion Agency of Hong Kong will organize for two business delegations to explore investment opportunities in Vietnam.

China’s Hong Kong investors are seeking investment opportunities in Metro Line No2 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Notably, in addition to the traditional investment fields such as garment production, agriculture, forestry and seafood processing, real estate, Hong Kong investors now also pay attention to investment in infrastructure and waste water treatment in the form of public–private partnership (PPP).
Hong Kong investors are also seeking for investment opportunities in the Metro Line No2, road construction projects and waste water treatment in Ho Chi Minh City.
Tina Phan expected when the ASEAN-Hong Kong FTA takes effect, her agency will organize more trips for Hong Kong investors to come to Vietnam to seek more investment opportunities here.
China’s Hong Kong is currently Vietnam’s sixth largest export market, and can be considered a major trading partner of Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Hong Kong ranks sixth among the largest foreign investors of Vietnam with 1,239 projects totaling US$17.6 billion of registered capital.
In the first nine months of 2017, Vietnam's exports to Hong Kong reached $5.5 billion, up 23.4 percent year on year. Imports from Hong Kong to Vietnam in the period reached $1.3 billion, up 25 per cent over the same period last year. Import staples in the first nine months of 2017 were mainly machines, equipments and materials to serve local production such as computers, electronic products and components, phone, textile, garment, leather and footwear accessories, and fabrics.
In addition, the data showed that Vietnam is also an attractive market for Hong Kong consumer goods as the country’s import value of phones, computers and electronic products from Hong Kong for consumption is increasing significantly
Last year, Vietnam exported to Hong Kong reached $6 billion and spent $1.5 billion to import from the market.
As for the ASEAN-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement, the two sides last month announced the conclusion of their negotiations. Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau said that the agreement will be signed in November this year.
According to him, ASEAN is a very important trade partner of Hong Kong. The bloc was the second largest partner in terms of trade turnover in 2016, and the fourth largest in services trade in 2015.
Last year, the total trade turnover between Hong Kong and ASEAN amounted to HKD833 billion (US$106.6 billion), while total services trade was HKD121 billion (US$15.4 billion) in 2015.
On investment, as at the end of 2015, ASEAN ranked sixth among Hong Kong’s destinations of outward direct investment, with a stock of HKD218 billion (US$27.9 billion), and it ranked sixth among Hong Kong’s sources of inward direct investment, with a stock of HKD555 billion (US$71.1 billion).