Hong Kong stands ready to welcome Vietnamese investors

According to Stephen Phillips, general director of Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), Hong Kong's government promotion authority, Hong Kong is an active international business environment and offers foreign investors convenient business registration procedures, modern infrastructure, and low tariffs.

Hong Kong is looking to strengthen business ties with Vietnam

“Moreover, we now have a mechanism to provide support for newly-established and mature firms, from planning and opportunity evaluation to visa application and marketing,” stated Phillips at the round table to call for investment from Vietnam held in Ho Chi Minh City on August 13 organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Ho Chi Minh City.

Phillips said there are ample business opportunities in Hong Kong for Vietnamese enterprises.

“While doing business in Hong Kong, Vietnamese companies will be able to enjoy the incentives guaranteed under the ‘One country, two systems’ policy,” Phillips said.

Moreover, being the world’s freest economy and China’s most international city, Hong Kong is destined to play a significant role in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Representatives from Hong Kong and Vietnam discussing investment opportunities

“The Belt and Road Initiative is offering a long-term promise of transactional and intercontinental connectivity and will give rise to rewarding business prospects including new air, sea, and land routes, additional ports, rails and roads connecting isolated regions, economic and trade pacts, and increased investment flows,” he added.

Vo Tan Thanh, director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)’s Ho Chi Minh City Branch, stressed that Vietnam and Hong Kong are key trade partners for each other, with bilateral trade reaching $9.2 billion in 2017, up 22 per cent from 2016.

As of June 2018, Hong Kong was the sixth largest foreign investor in Vietnam, with a total capital of nearly $19 billion, he said. With the ASEAN-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement, trade and investment between Vietnam and Hong Kong are expected to grow fiercely in the near future. Vietnam is encouraging firms to expand investment abroad to popularise Vietnamese products across the world.