Present at the event were Mr. Le Thanh Liem, Permanent Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee; Ambassador Luong Thanh Nghi, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Tran Hai Linh, Member of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and Chairman of the Vietnam- Korea Businessmen and Investment Association (VKBIA), as well as numerous representatives of associations, corporations, and large companies.
The conference was seen as an event to celebrate the success of the 11th Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term, the 16th anniversary of the Vietnam Business Day (October 13). It also created a venue for overseas Vietnamese businessmen and foreign enterprises investing and doing business in Ho Chi Minh City to meet, exchange experience and seek partnerships in various fields.
In 2020, Vietnam and regional countries have been affected by trade wars between major countries. Further, Industrial Revolution 4.0, climate change, natural disasters and especially the COVID-19 pandemic have more or less impacted the domestic economy.
In spite of difficulties and challenges, Vietnamese expatriates all over the world, including the overseas Vietnamese business community, tried to boost trade and economic activities. In this context, overseas Vietnamese sent a large number of remittances to the homeland, contributing positively to national socio-economic development.
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At the signing ceremony between VKBIA and partners |
At the conference, overseas Vietnamese business exchanged information, highlighted the Vietnamese business tradition, and reviewed the contributions of intellectuals, businessmen, overseas Vietnamese businesses and foreign investors to the socio-economic development of Ho Chi Minh City in recent years.
This was also a chance for representatives of the city’s departments and associations, domestic and overseas business delegations to discuss solutions to promoting overseas Vietnamese resources to contribute to the overall development of the city. Delegates underlined the role of overseas Vietnamese businessmen and enterprises, focusing on approaches to boost connection and bring Vietnamese goods to foreign markets, improve the position of Vietnamese goods in the international arena.
Speaking at the conference, VKBIA’s Chairman Tran Hai Linh discussed the difficulties that foreign and Vietnamese businesses, including overseas Vietnamese enterprises, have encountered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The connection between the people of the two countries still faces many difficulties in the context of the complicated development of the pandemic.
But delegates showed their strong determination, saying that the difficult situation is also a driving force for them to continue promoting the stronger commercial relations between tVietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK).
Tran Hai Linh affirmed, "We are pleased to accompany the RoK Embassy in Vietnam and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam in the program “Meet Korea 2020.” So far the program has helped connect nearly 1000 large, small and medium enterprises from the RoK with localities of Vietnam.”
There were three comprehensive strategic cooperation agreements signed at the conference, between VKBIA and Megazone Cloud Group (the RoK’s leading corporation in cloud innovation, as well as digital economy, digital transformation and digital application), Shinhan Bank (the RoK’s leading banking and finance group), and MHGroup and Hoang Quan Group.
CEO of Megazone Cloud Willy Cho said that the Vietnamese market is still slower in applying cloud technology than the domestic market (the RoK market) and other market in the world. However, with the rapid growth of the startup ecosystem in Vietnam as well as the increased development of technological human resources in recent years, the cloud technology market is expected to grow rapidly.
CEO of Shinhan Bank Shin Dong Min said, “VKBIA and Shinhan Bank will coordinate in promoting cooperation between enterprises of Vietnam, the RoK and other countries; at the same time, it will seek and implement two-way cooperation opportunities in Vietnam and the RoK through connecting businesses, agencies and organizations of the RoK and Vietnam.”
VKBIA and MHGroup will also seek and connect potential investors in Hoang Quan Group and its affiliates and subsidiaries.
The newly-signed three comprehensive strategic cooperation agreements continue to mark an important milestone for the strong development and trade cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK in the coming time.
Also on this occasion, Mr. Phung Cong Dung, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, awarded a certificate of merit to VKBIA for its outstanding achievements in connecting overseas Vietnamese businessmen around the world and foreign firms to Ho Chi Minh City, contributing to building and developing Ho Chi Minh City.
Reported by Chung Anh