More cooperation opportunities expected for Vietnamese, Korean SMEs

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

A forum was held in the central province of Quang Nam to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the Republic of Korea (RoK) to expand investment and business opportunities in Vietnam.

The Baekdu Forum 2022 was jointly held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (KBIZ) with the support of the Saigon Telecommunication & Technologies Corporation (SaigonTel).

With reasonable labour costs and efforts in bilateral trade agreements, Vietnam is expected to be a suitable option for Korean firms in the time ahead, said Nguyen Cam Phuong, a representative from SaigonTel.

Vietnam is now a safe, attractive destination for investors from 141 countries and territories, with more than 34,000 projects worth some 400 billion USD, she continued, stressing that the RoK remains the leading investor in the Southeast Asian nation and ranks second in terms of trade with the revenue reaching about 90 billion USD this year.

The RoK has been also the biggest source of tourists to Vietnam this year, Phuong said, adding the two sides have seen in-depth collaboration in other spheres like banking-finance, infrastructure, transport, IT, science-technology, agro-forestry-fishery, education-training, culture and people-to-people exchange.

Vietnam was named among the world’s top 20 host economies for foreign direct investment (FDI) for the first time in 2020 by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), she noted.

SaigonTel wishes to continue working as a bridge for Korean investors in Vietnam, helping the country integrate more intensively in the regional and global supply chains and corporate ecosystems, Phuong said.

According to KBIZ Chairman Kim Ki-mun, the two-way trade skyrocketed from nearly 500 million USD in 1992 when Vietnam and the RoK established diplomatic ties to around 90 billion USD at present.

The 8,800 Korean firms operating in Vietnam are SMEs. Meanwhile in the RoK, SMEs make up more than 99% of the total businesses, and employ up to 90% of the workforce.

The federation is closely coordinating with the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment to create optimal conditions and offer incentives to Korean SMEs in Vietnam in various fields, he said./.