The assessment was made by Benjamin Chau, Deputy Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), at a press briefing on the situation of Vietnam-Hong Kong trade cooperation, hosted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Ho Chi Minh City branch in collaboration with the HKTDC in the southern economic hub on November 17.
According to Benjamin Chau, Vietnam and Hong Kong have many complementary advantages in the field of trade. Specifically, Vietnam is a country with many export products, such as garments, electronics, agricultural products, foodstuffs, and handicrafts, while Hong Kong is known as one of the most vibrant trade centres in Asia and the world.
Hong Kong attracts many large buyers and distributors from around the world as a location for their headquarters and representative offices in order to seek customers through large-scale and regularly held goods transactions, fairs, and exhibitions.
This will be the ideal place for Vietnamese businesses to approach buyers from Hong Kong and other countries around the world to showcase their products, establish business partnerships and create a supply chain of goods.
Tina Phan, Director of Indochina at HKTDC said that the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (under the Ministry of Industry and Trade) and the HKTDC have recently reached a memorandum of understanding on trade promotion.
The document lays the foundation for Vietnam and Hong Kong to promote exchanges of market information and strengthen trade exchange programmes and training on trade negotiation for businesses from both sides.
In addition, the ASEAN-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement, which was signed on November 12 and is expected to come into effect in early 2019, would further increase trade in goods, services, and investment between ASEAN countries and Hong Kong, as well as trade between Vietnam and Hong Kong in particular.
Vietnam is currently the third largest trading partner and the largest export market for Hong Kong in the ASEAN.
In the first nine months of the year, Vietnam-Hong Kong bilateral trade turnover reached over US$13 billion, up 12% on the same period in 2016. In particular, export turnover of Vietnam to Hong Kong reached US$5.7 billion; in contrast, Hong Kong’s exports to Vietnam were valued at US$7.4 billion.
The main trade products between Vietnam and Hong Kong are telecommunication devices and components, semiconductor materials, electronic tubes, and textile materials.
