Intensifying Vietnamese-Thai Business Connection

President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Pham Tan Cong recently received a Thai business delegation led by Mr. Sanan Angubokuk, Chairman of the Board of Trade of Thailand (BOT) cum Chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC), on a working visit to Vietnam at the VCCI Headquarters in Hanoi. The delegation was also attended by Mr. Nikorndej Balankura, Thai Ambassador to Vietnam.

VCCI President Pham Tan Cong presents a souvenir to the Board of Trade of Thailand

The visiting delegation was also received by VCCI Vice President Nguyen Quang Vinh, Chair of the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD).

The meeting aimed to strengthen the connection and cooperation between Vietnamese and Thai business communities, and promote economic trade and investment in the coming time.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Sanan Angubokuk highly appreciated VCCI's welcome to the delegation, saying that the face-to-face exchange and meeting between the two sides was a very important activity.

During this working visit, the Thai side hoped to further implement the plans set for 2023. BOT and VCCI signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during the Vietnamese President's visit to Thailand in November 2022. Now is a good time for the two sides to carry out and realize the objectives stated in this MOU, said Mr. Sanan Angubokuk.

Accordingly, the two sides will continue to enhance mutual information exchange. He invited VCCI to participate in trade shows in Thailand organized by BOT, including two upcoming events - Bangkok Styles (March 22-26, 2023) and Thaiflex (May 23-27, 2023). BOT and the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) have a joint plan to lead a Thai business delegation to visit Vietnam in the third quarter of 2023. At the same time, BOT also hoped that VCCI will support the hosting of EXPO 2028 in Phuket.

He also suggested that the two sides continue to hold BOT-VCCI meetings at least once a year and strengthen connections for small and medium-sized businesses and young companies.

“Currently, the Thai young business association has 6,000 members nationwide, wishing to connect with young Vietnamese businesses to exchange industrial, agricultural and service products of two countries,” he noted.

In addition, the Thai side added that, besides BOT and TTC, the Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Association has also worked strongly and actively to further strengthen the bilateral relationship. Thailand pays great attention to environmental protection, sustainable development and training. The Thai Chamber of Commerce will soon celebrate its 90th anniversary and look forward to working more closely with VCCI.

Mr. Sanan Angubokuk affirmed that the leaders of the two countries set a plan for the two-way trade to reach US$25 billion by 2025 but with the close cooperation between VCCI and BOT in the coming time, the value may reach US$30 billion.

VCCI President Pham Tan Cong expressed his pleasure to welcome Thai Ambassador to Vietnam Nikorndej Balankura, Mr. Sanan Angubokuk and the Thai business delegation to visit and work with VCCI when they are in Vietnam.

He also thanked BOT for supporting VCCI in successfully hosting the Vietnam-Thailand Business Forum within the framework of the Vietnamese President's official visit to Thailand at the end of 2022 and believed that the cooperation MOU between BOT and VCCI will work well.

With a unified vision and enhanced connectivity in ASEAN, cooperation between Vietnam and Thailand is very important. In the future, ASEAN will be able to become a unified economic bloc like the EU, so Vietnamese and Thai businesses can cooperate with each other on many fronts without restrictions. Besides, Thailand and Vietnam both have important positions in ASEAN and the signed MOU is thus an important foundation for developing the bilateral relationship.

Thai businesses highly appreciate Vietnam’s business environment 

VCCI President Pham Tan Cong also agreed with Mr. Sanan on the implementation of four MOU contents and said that the information exchange between the two sides can start from the third quarter of 2023 and VCCI will update economic information to be exchanged with Thailand. VCCI hoped to receive updates on economic activities, businesses, fairs and exhibitions and will distribute this information to its members.

He added that VCCI has more than 200,000 member companies, and importantly, there are 200 trade associations that match Thailand's needs. “We also own a prestigious economic newspaper in Vietnam and many modern media to effectively share information with the business community.”

Cong also agreed to organize a Vietnamese business delegation to Thailand to take part in trade connection programs and hoped that the two sides would regularly meet alternately in different cities of the two countries.

Moreover, apart from startups, young businesses and SMEs, VCCI, within its capacity, is ready to provide support to further develop relations in technology, agriculture, environmental protection, circular economy and many other services.

On this occasion, VCCI President Cong also shared with Thai representatives that VCCI will celebrate its 60th anniversary this year and a national investment forum in Vietnam will be jointly held by the National Assembly of Vietnam and VCCI in the third quarter. Vietnam is striving to be a developed country by 2045 and maintain annual GDP growth of 6.7% in the next 20 years. This is a huge opportunity for investors and Vietnam hopes to have the presence of Thai businesses in this course.

By Anh Mai, Vietnam Business Forum