30 years of accompanying the country’s key economic sectors part3

Scott Hodgetts - General manager, Sheraton Saigon Hotels & Towers

VIR and similar local business newspapers are the key sources that we rely on for local information, covering a comprehensive political, social, business, and economic life in Vietnam – whether regulation or directive updates from governments or any news relating to local communities. It plays an important and valuable role for us to keep up with the news.

We truly appreciate how Vietnam Investment Review has brought communities together as it provides a voice and a platform for people and issues to be heard. On the other hand, in a fast-changing world where everyone can be a “reporter” via social media, the role of leading publications is even more important. We need in-depth insights from trustful sources with editorial and production quality.

The reliable content that VIR has worked on throughout the years sets its footprints in the media industry. Living in the social world with different social media platforms, it would be a great addition to be present across platforms and produce news in various media formats such as full-length videos, short videos, and podcasts so that people could also listen and watch along with reading.

Katsuhiko Usui - General director, Sapporo Vietnam

Since Sapporo officially entered the Vietnamese market in 2011, we have invested more than $50 million to build Long An Brewery with Japanese standards to ensure the quality standards of Sapporo products in Vietnam.

This was our first brewery in an overseas market. Vietnam is one of the most interesting and dynamic beer markets all over the world, with high potential growth supported by many beer lovers. With the mission to contribute to enriching Vietnamese cuisine culture, Sapporo Vietnam offers consumers safe and high-quality beer products according to Japanese standards and also best suited to Vietnamese consumer tastes.

VIR has long been a trusted media partner of Vietnam’s business and investment community, notably international investors, as well as serving as a vital link between government agencies, politicians, entrepreneurs, investors, and, most importantly, the general public.

Since our journey in Vietnam, VIR has become a great companion for us to share our message to Vietnamese consumers. Thanks to VIR, Sapporo also has access to early and credible news on the Vietnamese investment market, which is beneficial to our business strategy. Its unwavering support is much appreciated, and so we would like to express our gratitude to the team. We wish VIR’s editors and journalists every success for the years ahead.

Jozef Alfons Peeters - CEO, Hanoi French Hospital

Journalism is not just an occupation, but a lifestyle. Journalists are the masters of words who do not only create wealth but also form the consciousness of citizens, their character, behaviour, deeds, and more.

Thirty years is a great journey for any press agency. For me, VIR is one of the leading English-language business newspapers in Vietnam that I read every week, and search for online news. It provides reliable and in-depth information about the business community, especially news about the healthcare industry. During the current pandemic, every day we get updates about local and world news that contribute to our timely and quick decisions.

VIR is truly a policy dialogue channel between the Vietnamese government and the business community. Through the newspaper, businesses like us can approach the government’s new policies, actions, and initiatives. And VIR also helps communicate businesses’ expectations to the government. VIR’s Health Platform column helps us have insightful stories and interviews about what is happening in the healthcare sector, trends, and customer habits. VIR, indeed, contributes to the development of the healthcare sector and the development of businesses, as well.

The media is now heading towards investing much more in the development of electronic systems. We hope to see more advanced changes in VIR online, thus enabling the business community to more quickly get updates.

VIR has been doing a great job over the years. It may further consider running more in-depth business articles to meet the information needs of both the local and international business and investment communities. We believe VIR will continue to have another great journey ahead.

Loic Faussier - Co-founder and managing director, VNInvest Partners

Having lived, worked, and invested in Vietnam for nearly 15 years, VIR has been a constant and reliable partner through this journey. I believe that, for foreigners doing business in Vietnam, it is a precious tool to be able to receive every week the latest information in terms of policies, industry developments and trends, and regulations in Vietnam.

In terms of Vietnam’s macroeconomic developments and policies, the information provided by VIR is comprehensive. To better understand the expectations of the foreign investor community in Vietnam, surveys could be added on specific issues, using the large and very relevant readership of VIR. The publication’s content is very focused and comprehensive on macroeconomic developments, new policies, industry trends, and to some extent activity of foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam. It may be interesting for foreign investors but also more generally for business leaders in Vietnam to add some more specific content on leading and fast-growing domestic companies that could be potential partners for foreign businesses.

Dang Trong Duc - Director, KTG Industrial

For KTG Industrial, media is an essential partner. Over the decades, VIR has supported KTG in offering its readers more information on our business activities, new projects, and new services fully and quickly. Additionally, this is a channel of socioeconomic information for us to update local and international business and investment trends, contributing to our development strategies.

Being an industrial property business, we often work with local and foreign investors and businesses. So we need practical and updated information on investment policies and the business environment in Vietnam in order to lure more investors and businesses. It is especially important in these restrictive times that the media remains an essential channel.

We would like to join various workshops and conferences on the themes of free trade agreements and business-to-business activities organised by VIR in order to seize more opportunities to connect with more corporations and facilitate our business development.

Dinh Nguyen Thi Huong - Public Affairs and Communication manager, SABECO

I would love to express my warmest congratulations to you all on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the launch of the first VIR issue.

As one of the enterprises with a long history and development in Vietnam, we, SABECO, have the opportunity to observe and accompany VIR in its development journey to become one of the leading prestigious press units in Vietnam. It can be seen that, along with the general development trend of society, the tastes and understanding of readers also change. Accordingly, the role of journalists also becomes important in creating different perspectives and different prisms to help not only readers but also professional authorities have more multi-dimensional views of the media. From there, there will be right, positive decisions or behaviours that create a lot of value for society.

For the business, we always appreciate the credibility and transparency of information from press agencies. We always believe in the information posted and shared very actively from VIR related to relevant business areas and activities promoting sustainable development in Vietnam.

Thirty years is just a milestone of the development journey. We believe that under the leadership of the current management team, VIR will continue to grow stronger and stronger, affirming the value and reputation of not only the domestic media but also the world.

Neil MacGregor - Managing director, Savills Vietnam

I first read VIR in 2001 after my arrival in Vietnam and by 2005, I was a regular contributor working with the reporters covering the growing real estate markets that were attracting much interest at the time.

Over time it has been great to get to know the reporters as friends and colleagues, helping them to report on the rapidly developing real estate markets in Vietnam over the last two decades. Together we have seen so much change both in terms of market participants, as well as the evolving regulatory environment.

I was immediately struck by the quality of the English content in VIR compared to other English language newspapers in the region and this quality continues today. VIR is respected as the premier source of business-related news in Vietnam, providing in-depth insights from both their own journalistic team, but also from the leading figures in the business community.

The M&A events have always been a huge success, providing investors valuable and timely insights on the markets and changes in the legal framework as well as excellent networking opportunities. Unlike many other events, these forums allow investors to openly discuss the challenges they face, as well as highlight policy successes.

The Vietnamese economy continues to grow at a rapid pace, becoming increasingly integrated into the global economy and with growing interest from institutional investors. With this in mind, it is important that VIR continues to adapt to the needs of this more sophisticated international audience, providing more in-depth analysis and benchmarking with other markets around the region.

In this new era for the media, VIR should expand to additional channels other than print, online, and events. The future is digital, and so it should explore more opportunities for utilising social media, blogs, online interviews, and online events to keep its readership informed and engaged.

Lim Hua Tiong - CEO, Frasers Property Vietnam

Frasers Property Vietnam has been working with VIR and its reporters for more than two years, and we highly appreciate the professional coverage of our business development in Vietnam.

VIR is famous through its media publications and national-level media events that provide enterprises and readers with reliable and exciting coverage on Vietnam business and investment. Throughout my personal engagement with VIR for close to 10 years, I observe that it offers readers insightful highlights and key market updates.

As the official information channel of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, news from VIR is always reliable and provides good market insight to enterprises and investors. In addition, VIR organises several national-level annual forums and conferences. Over the years, these events grow larger and become important industry-wide events for enterprises in Vietnam, and also brings opportunities to local and foreign enterprises for business networking.

Amitabh Dube - Country president, Novartis Vietnam

We would also like to express our heartfelt appreciation for the valuable support of the reporters and the editorial board for our company over the years. VIR has long been an indispensable media partner for our business operations in Vietnam.

Through the strong support to acknowledge and tell stories about our projects, important business milestones, and our commitment to delivering on our mission to improve and extend people’s lives, VIR has helped connect us to a broader audience domestically and elsewhere. Much of that audience are our key targeted stakeholders, like healthcare professionals and patients, government officials, regulators, academia, future talents, and our current associates as well. They have made a significant contribution to build and enhance our favourable reputation and trust in the community.

We wish VIR continued success in this new chapter and always being a bridge to promote business environment to domestic and international investors and entrepreneurs, making an important contribution in the promotion of investment attraction and the country’s development goals.

Dang Tuyet Dung - Country manager in Vietnam and Laos, Visa

It gives me great pleasure to convey on behalf of Visa Vietnam my congratulations on the 30th anniversary of VIR.

A new decade is a new beginning, and these are exciting times for the journey of VIR. Indeed, the news coverage and interviews – independent and in cooperation with Visa – have helped communicate the benefits and potential of cashless payments to readers, business leaders, and policymakers alike.

Visa and VIR are striving towards a common goal – to foster sustainable social and economic development. Each day, Visa works with our issuer and merchant partners to make payments safer, faster, and more convenient for the benefit of Vietnamese consumers. This is especially important during the current pandemic when the physical safety offered by new payment methods can quite literally save lives.

Digital is an opportunity to thrive and drive the cashless agenda led by the Vietnamese government. Visa would like to thank VIR for supporting us in sharing our message and being a voice for progress. We hope to continue this partnership to support Vietnam heading towards a cashless society for the benefit of investors and businesses, and the society at large.

Simon Matthews - Regional manager, ManpowerGroup Vietnam, Thailand, and Middle East

VIR is an indispensable part for businesses in Vietnam every Monday to begin a new working week, especially for foreigners and business experts.

For ManpowerGroup Vietnam, VIR is now the leading English-language business newspaper in Vietnam in terms of prestige and quality.

Having opportunities to work with VIR, ManpowerGroup Vietnam always sees professionalism and in-depth knowledge about various sectors and fields. VIR’s journalists have been supporting businesses like us in updating information about the labour market and foreign direct investment for many years.

To increase its value in the journalism industry, I think VIR should make more effort in further diversifying information about many more sectors and fields which attract the market attention. In addition to this, VIR might consider adding more topical columns or a reader section where individuals and corporates can raise their points of view about the pressing economic issues of the day.

The biggest expectation of ManpowerGroup Vietnam and other businesses is that VIR continues to be a bridge connecting them with more other enterprises possibly via online events, especially in the current climate. We expect VIR will continue updating us and other readers on valuable information, aspects, and statistics while increasing the role and improving the position towards becoming the leading reliable economic newspaper.

Leonardo Garcia - Country head, Coca-Cola Vietnam and Cambodia

As Coca-Cola Vietnam’s long-term and consistent commitment is to create shared values for the local communities through successful business operation as well as sustainability projects, we believe that Coca-Cola’s endless efforts to achieve public support can never be achieved without the tremendous and invaluable support from truly prestigious newspapers like VIR.

In the past year, the newspaper has been an inseparable companion to the development of not only Coca-Cola but also the foreign investor community in Vietnam. VIR has devoted itself to update the latest news about business, the sustainable development of the private sector contributing to the economic and social growth of Vietnam and vice versa. From there, it is helping its audiences to have an overview of market orientation and to develop related business strategies or advocate for impactful policies from a trustful source of news.

On this special occasion, I truly wish the newspaper continues its long-term success and remains a trustworthy partner of business community in Vietnam, including Coca-Cola.

Kent Wong - Partner cum head of Banking and Capital Markets, VCI Legal LLP

I have lived in Vietnam for over eight years and have always read VIR to obtain information on investment and business in Vietnam. It consistently publishes current and useful information for local and foreign investors, which reflects the overall economy and provides valuable insights into key economic issues that affect the foreign business community.

Throughout these turbulent times, the importance of digital business content becomes even more paramount. VIR provides us with financial information from the standpoint of real business and deals. I would like VIR to continue to cover these perspectives in greater depth in the near future.

These days, as long-term sustainable practices gain more prevalence to the industrial and business sectors, VIR should consider creating a column where best practice success stories from various companies and organisations can be shared and recognised.

Since the real estate industry is still booming in Vietnam, I would encourage VIR to continue to develop this section to provide readers with constant up-to-date information, as I believe it is a trusted source of reliable information for foreign and domestic readers alike.

With the comprehensive coverage of recent free trade agreement signings and closer Vietnam-US bilateral trade ties, VIR deserves high praise for creating informed awareness and supporting these bilateral and multilateral frameworks that ultimately contribute to Vietnam’s development.

VIR is one of the more effective information channels which is written in clear business English for professionals and investors to receive timely and accurate financial information and analysis. It also serves as an excellent information portal (especially for inbound mergers and outbound investment) for institutional investors and diplomatic missions to receive the latest economic updates.

Jules Kay - Managing director, PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards & Events

For the last six editions of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards, VIR has championed our programme and supported us by bringing the news to the wider business community, investors, and the general public. It has kindly supported our programme by publishing timely articles about the awards for its readers, which has helped enhance the influence and prestige of our programme and, in turn, enabled potential nominees and entrants to reach out to us. We are grateful for the continued coverage from VIR as we celebrate our seventh year in Vietnam.

VIR has especially stood by the Vietnam Property Awards despite the challenges of the current pandemic. For example, the media launch of the seventh PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards that took place earlier this year had to be moved to a virtual platform. The launch still attracted media attention because of the track record we have built and, thanks to the enthusiastic support of a respected media organisation like VIR, the key messages of our event were disseminated to the right audiences.

VIR is a reputable paper and has been a reliable source of information about Vietnam’s real estate market for industry professionals outside the country. Therefore, it has become one of my top choices for its insightful articles and up-to-date information about domestic current affairs and real estate news. The articles from VIR help me paint a clearer picture of the business trends in Vietnam, too.

I hope our good relationship will flourish for many years. I also wish VIR all the best as it grows stronger and more successful so that it will always provide the most useful and valuable information to its readers and contribute to Vietnam’s socioeconomic development and ongoing real estate innovation.

Masataka “Sam” Yoshida - Head of Cross-border Division, RECOF Corporation

For many years, the annual Vietnam M&A Forum has brought together leading corporate investors, top corporate executives, senior advisors, private equity professionals, journalists, and government officials from across Vietnam and the region for an exclusive gathering into the country’s merger and acquisition landscape. There has been arguably no better stage than the M&A Forum to connect effectively with an extraordinary number of clients, experts and key decision-makers.

Through a series of interactive panel discussions, presentations, and case studies, we believe the forum is very successful in developing investment ideas and building momentum for the local market.

Each year the forum engages with government leaders and is widely covered by the press which is partly to serve the purpose of bringing regulatory issues to participants including policymakers for discussion. We have seen regulatory communications during forum activities, and we were glad to know that the local government had always been trying to create an environment that fostered foreign investment and promoted best practices in innovative cross-border transactions.

One unforgettable memory is the time we had the honour to receive an award from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) for having been the biggest M&A contributing firm between Japan and Vietnam. We were invited to the stage at the Gem Center to receive the award from MPI Deputy Minister Vu Dai Thang together with a compliment that RECOF is an irreplaceable M&A firm when it comes to work between the two countries.

That was the moment I really felt we became a member of the community since entering Vietnam. We are thankful for the forum which highly evaluated us, as well as our Vietnamese and Japanese customers and legal, accounting, and other professionals who were involved in so many unforgettable transactions.

We hope VIR continues organising its annual flagship M&A Forum to bring together an ecosystem looking for the next big idea, even if it means a virtual forum has to be held. Based on our experience running webinars, we believe it is possible to learn, engage, and inspire one another virtually. The primary challenge is the face-to-face networking aspect, and we recommend using platforms such as LinkedIn to connect speakers and attendees.

We would also like to schedule short virtual summits with several tracks that run in parallel (for example, Japanese investor tracks or specific industry tracks) and people can join the tracks that suit them best.

Sami Kteily - Executive chairman, PEB Steel Buildings Co., Ltd.

VIR has accompanied our business from our first day in 1994, helping us learn, connect, and grow successfully.

Since launching, VIR has flourished with expanded coverage, insider features, and economic-centric content which help us catch up with the latest economic and business trends in Vietnam and around the world. It has been providing a national economic outlook, and covering measures from the government to attract and sustain foreign investment, and also aid business recovery. It helps businesses like us assess the growth of new investment opportunities that have been shaped by the pandemic crisis.

VIR has always been an early and reliable source of news about foreign investors into the country who invariably require steel buildings for their factories and warehouses - a product provided by PEB Steel. VIR has become our go-to website too, our irreplaceable and absolutely necessary source of information. Over the years, VIR has always been our first choice among weekly publications when it comes to promoting our products and services and planning our marketing activities.

I wish VIR and its people the best of luck, health, and success for many years to come, and to keep growing its content and platform to assist the business community.

Brice Borin - General manager, Mövenpick Resort Cam Ranh

Media, both internal and external communication, always plays a very important role in the development of a country – especially in the current context when Industry 4.0 is growing strongly, with multi-dimensional and far-reaching impacts on all aspects of economic and social life. Therefore, the more developed the society, the more diverse and richer the information required.

With external media like VIR, this is an effective information channel to propagate and promote the image of Vietnam and individual provinces to foreign organisations and expatriates who are investing, living, and working in Vietnam.

VIR has a good implementation of helpful information from the economy and finance to culture and society. It helps international friends approach the situation about Vietnam accurately, thereby properly understanding the country, people of Vietnam and different local opportunities.

As priority is given to the activities of foreign-invested enterprises as well as covering economic policies that affect the operation of the business sector, I always find useful and update information from VIR.

From the very first day of establishment, VIR has been well received by foreign investors in Vietnam and foreign-based corporations interested in the Vietnamese market. Thus, I would suggest that VIR maintains these achievements and its pioneering role and develops its technology for the future in order to adapt to the 4.0 era.

Dao Nguyen Khanh - Marketing and Corporate Communications manager, INSEE Vietnam

For 30 years, VIR remains persistent in its mission to be the most trusted companion of the business community in this country, and a bridge between government agencies, policymakers, entrepreneurs, investors and, most of all, the people.

For me, VIR is a prestigious newspaper with many diverse publications, helping local and foreign businesses and entrepreneurs to connect with each other, express and reflect the views and perspectives of the business community to the government, and vice versa.

Currently, the government has defined a strategy of living with COVID-19 and is in the process of preparing to reopen economic activity. I hope Vietnam Investment Review can consider organising events to connect the business community in safe conditions, because that is one of its strengths.

In addition, the newspaper should continue to encourage and spread the trend of using sustainable building materials, contributing to environmental protection. This will help us build a better life.

Wayne Besant - CEO, AIA Vietnam

VIR has always been an important channel for the businesses, and I am happy to see that the newspaper has now become one of the most trustworthy and influential economics newspapers in Vietnam.

Throughout its development, VIR has projected a positive image of Vietnam to its worldwide readership, helping them to understand the country as an attractive investment destination. This has been clearly illustrated by the increasing foreign investment pouring into the country.

I am particularly impressed with the insurance reporters of the VIR. They are experienced and well versed in the market. The newspaper has greatly contributed to heightening the public’s awareness of the life insurance industry, thus promoting its growth in Vietnam.

From the perspective of life insurer, my AIA Vietnam colleagues and I have also been involved in the development of the country with the principle that what is good for Vietnam is good for AIA Vietnam. We are contributing our part to the development of the life insurance industry, of the economy, and most importantly to the improvement of Vietnamese people’s quality of life – which means healthier, longer, and better lives.

On behalf of AIA Vietnam, I wish the Editorial Board, reporters, and other staff of VIR good health, and I congratulate it on this proud milestone.

Seck Yee Chung - Partner, Baker McKenzie Vietnam

This is a significant milestone and achievement, and in many ways parallels Vietnam’s own journey toward realising the visions of a modern and vibrant economy.

VIR is a long-standing partner of the business community in Vietnam. These publications provide timely, diverse, and insightful reports on Vietnam’s economic and business developments and trends.

Foreign investors are an important and integral part of Vietnam’s economy. In the late 1980s, the bulk of foreign investment was by way of greenfield foreign direct investment and joint ventures, and largely in the manufacturing and real estate sectors. Deeper global integration in the 2000s led to further spikes of interest in and investments into Vietnam, and in particular, opening the door for many more sectors.

At the same time, this created interest in and opportunities for mergers and acquisitions. Vietnam entering into various trade agreements in recent years further signals that Vietnam is open for business. The regulatory framework also had to adapt over time to accommodate these things, which to date attempts to strike a balance between creating a modern and open market for investments, and providing certain conditions and limitations for sectors that are not wholly opened for foreign investors.

In addition, the M&A Forum organised by VIR became an annual platform that brings together the broad spectrum of businesses, investors, experts, and service suppliers under one roof. This is the go-to event to network and to hear from industry players, major investors, and successful businesses. It also reaffirms Vietnam’s commitment to evolving a modern and open economy, welcoming of investments, partnership, and collaboration between foreign and domestic businesses.

Just as Vietnam has weathered many challenges and kept up its fighting spirit, we have confidence that Vietnam will continue to deploy its resources to counter the present hardships and to introduce initiatives and measures that will help the society, businesses, and the economy to move forward.