Many Singaporean firms are interested in investing in the food industry, agriculture, and dining services in Vietnam as they forecast that these sectors will thrive in the near future amidst broader ASEAN integration.
It was according to Andy Yun, Secretary General of Singapore Manufacturing Federation representing more than 3,000 members operating in automation, biology, construction, heavy industry and more, during the second Vietnam – Singapore business exchange held in the island state on March 17.
Yun described Vietnam as a major market in the region with potential of agriculture and food industry. Meanwhile, Singaporean enterprises are strong in technology, supply chain and logistics – a supplementary factor to bilateral partnership.
Nguyen Van Than, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, led a delegation of over 100 Vietnamese firms, many of them are start-ups, to the event.
He said many Singaporean enterprises actively connected with Vietnamese ones at the event, proving that bilateral cooperation potential is huge.
Accounting for over 97 percent of the total, Vietnamese SMEs contribute nearly 40 percent of the gross domestic product, 33 percent of industrial production value, 30 percent of the export value and attract more than half of the workforce, he said.
Minister at the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore Dinh Hoang Linh said the exchange is part of celebrations of the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and the fifth anniversary of strategic partnership.
Statistics showed that Singapore is now the sixth largest trade partner of Vietnam in the world and the second largest in ASEAN. Vietnam is also the 12th largest trade partner of Singapore.
Two-way trade has grown 12-15 percent annually over the past years.
In 2017 alone, two-way trade between Vietnam and Singapore neared 16 billion USD. Singapore ranks third among 126 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with a total capital of roughly 43 billion USD./.