The event successfully created a harmonious environment for enterprises of the two countries to better understand each other’s investment environment and encourage more confidence to develop bilateral investment and trade.

Businesses participating in this seminar focus on the main areas of oil and gas, information technology, energy and regional cooperation development, agriculture, construction, lifestyle, banking and real estate. 

During the official visit of Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, the two countriesdiscussed various areas of cooperation, including the cooperation on supply of rice, cooperation in the field of agriculture, facilitation of movement of skilled workers, and enhancing trade and investment linkages.

In his keynote address, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai highlighted great efforts of both the Government and the business community of Vietnam in recent years to overcome the economy’s current difficulties and obtain positive macroeconomic results. “Vietnam is currently conducting six free trade agreement negotiations with regional and world-leading economies. When the negotiations are completed, Vietnam is expected to be an important link of the large-scale economic chain of ASEAN as well as Asia-Pacific region. With the important strategic position, Vietnam will be an ideal connection for ASEAN Economic Community by 2015,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.      

Vietnam and Malaysia are dynamic market economies that depend on international trade for stimulating economic growth. Strong global connections and improved access to markets are fundamental to the economic strategies for both countries. With this in mind, the Governments of Vietnam and Malaysia will continue to pursue active trade by utilizing ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) as tools for trade development and policy agendas as well as take part in the regional and global trade liberalization and economic reform. Both countries have a longstanding and healthy bilateral relationship under the ASEAN spirit.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, as of September 2013, Vietnam has attracted more than 15,000 foreign-invested projects from 100 countries and territories with the total disbursed capital of more than US$100 billion, and these projects have actively contributed to the growth of Vietnam’s economy.

 “Malaysia is an important ASEAN partner of Vietnam, with 444 projects invested in Vietnam with total capital of over US$10 billion, raking 8^th among investors from all over the world. More importantly, the Vietnamese Government appreciates the quality and effectiveness of Malaysian projects which have involved in almost all economic sectors of Vietnam with the average capital of US$23 million per project. The Malaysian projects in the fields of processing and manufacturing industries account for the largest percentage of investment.”    

Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, remarked: “On investment, there is certainly an imbalance. Malaysian companies have been more aggressive in expanding investments into Viet Nam. In the last 5 years from 2008-2012, Malaysia has invested close to US$20 billion in Vietnam. Investments are diversified and cover banking, construction, oil and gas, manufacturing garments and textiles.”

 “Vietnam is the fifth largest trade partner of Malaysia in ASEAN, while Malaysia is Vietnam's the third largest trade partner in the region. Bilateral trade has grown impressively over the last 12 years from US$930.80 million in 2000 to US$9.03 billion in 2012. Total trade for the first 8 months of 2013 stood at US$6.6 billion. 2012 was the first time since 1993 that Vietnam experienced a trade surplus with Malaysia. And this is in large part due to the increase in Malaysia's imports of electronics, computers and components. Regardless of the balance of trade, we would like to see the volume and value of our bilateral trade rise to a much higher level in the next few years. The trade balance merely reaffirms the fact that our companies in ASEAN are integrated into the global supply and value chains. What we need to focus on is to increase the breadth and depth of our trade. For example, a bulk of Malaysia's import from Vietnam is electrical and electronics (E&E) which includes parts and components Malaysia's imports of E&E accounted for 34.8 percent from our total imports of US$5.2 billion from Vietnam.”

AFTA is likely to boost trade between Vietnam and Malaysia in 2013 and fully liberalized trade duties by 2015. It will provide an excellent platform for Vietnam’s exports and imports. Given existing trade patterns, the impact on both Vietnam and Malaysia domestic producers by removing bilateral trade barriers in protected sectors should also be limited to a few sectors so that it is manageable under appropriate transitional measures.

Source: VCCI