The Vietnam Trade Office in Thailand along with the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) and the Federation of Thai Industry held a workshop in Bangkok on October 6 to encourage Thai businesses to invest in the supporting industry in Vietnam.

Chokdee Kaewsang, Deputy Secretary General of the BOI, said Thailand has over 20 years of developing the supporting industry – which is a foundation for such key sectors as automobile manufacturing, electronic equipment and machinery to grow and improve competitiveness of industrial products.

Growing the supporting industry will help draw in foreign investment, he said, highlighting skilled human resources and the government’s tax incentives and supportive measures as important factors to develop the field.

An automobile assembling factory

Commenting on investment opportunities in Vietnam, he said Vietnam is a potential market with geographical advantages, high and stable economic growth, and open investment attraction policies.

Particularly, Vietnam’s strong integration in the regional and global economies via a series of free trade agreements will be a magnet for overseas firms, including those from Thailand, he stressed.

He spoke of the Vietnamese government’s efforts over the past time to develop the supporting industry via preferential policies and specific development orientations.

According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of June 2016, Thailand ran 466 projects in Vietnam with a total investment capital of 9.44 billion USD, ranking 10th out of the 116 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

The average capital of a Thai project is around 20.26 million USD, 14 million USD higher than that of a foreign-invested project in Vietnam. Thai businesses pumped big investment into the supporting industry in Vietnam.

Source: VNA