Many Thai businesses have shown a keen interest in Vietnam’s preferential investment policies, taxation, land leasing and ownership as well as schools for learning Vietnamese.
At a seminar on business and investment opportunities and challenges in Vietnam in Thailand ’s north-eastern province of Khon Kaen on September 29, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien said that this is a practical way of implementing commitments to the ASEAN Economic Community and expanding cooperation along the East-West Economic Corridor to increase two-way trade.
Deputy Minister Bien said that despite the impacts of the global financial crisis, two-way trade recorded an average increase of 10.6 percent in the 2007-09 period and a year-on-year rise of 25.1 percent to 4.25 billion USD in the first eight months of this year.
In August 2010, Thailand was ranked 10th out of the foreign investors in Vietnam with 237 projects, totalling 5.7 billion USD, he said.
Vietnam boasts political stability and an improved legal system and infrastructure, he said, adding that the nation will soon become an important gateway to other big markets in Southeast Asia.
He said that Vietnam’s market is developing stably and safely and the country is cutting tariffs under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) while further integrating into the global economy.
For his part, the acting Mayor of Khon Kaen province Payat Chanparsert said that by being ASEAN members, Thailand and Vietnam have made considerable progress, especially the relationship between his province and regions of Vietnam.
The participation of large numbers of Thai representatives reflects their wishes to promote bilateral trade and investment ties, he stressed./.