Director of ITPC Pham Thiet Hoa speaking at the event (Photo: baotintuc.vn)
Speaking at the conference, ITPC Director Pham Thiet Hoa said the UK is an important partner of Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh city, in various fields.
By September 2019, the UK had invested in 366 projects worth 3.64 billion USD in Vietnam, ranking 15th among the 132 countries and territories directly investing in the city. In Ho Chi Minh city alone, the businesses of the nation invest in 153 projects, with a combined capital of over 600 million USD.
In the first eight months of this year, bilateral trade reached 4.53 billion USD, including 3.08 billion USD of exports and 557 million USD of imports by Vietnam, up 1.7 percent and 4.84 percent, respectively.
According to Mr Hoa, both the size and quality of UK’s projects in Vietnam have been increasing, showing the huge potential for investment partnership between the UK and Ho Chi Minh city.
He emphasized that the local administration desires to listen to the opinions of UK businesses to help them devise suitable solutions and policies to facilitate operations of foreign investors, including those from the UK.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Neill James, Deputy Consul General of the UK in Ho Chi Minh city, said Vietnam is considered one of the most dynamic economies in Asia, and it has attracted great attention from foreign businesses and investors. The S-shaped country is also considered an important market and potential investment destination by UK businesses.
He added that the BBGV has organized many activities to introduce Vietnam to the business community in the UK to boost bilateral trade and investment.
While Mr. Kenneth Atkinson, the leader of BBGV, said that British businesses are investing in many fields in Ho Chi Minh city, including education, finance - banking, hotel, real estate and service business.
He expressed his desire that the city continue creating favorable conditions for investment and business activities of UK businesses through increased information exchange and removal of difficulties so that UK businesses can further contribute to the development of the city, as well as to Vietnam – UK cooperation.
At the conference, the leaders the city also provided information on projects the city wants to call on investment for, mainly in urban landscape improvement, water supply and drainage, and transport infrastructure. They also answered the businesses’ questions about difficulties and obstacles relevant to labor contract and social insurance procedures, tax and customs regulations./.