Vietnam to make investment environment friendlier for investors: NA leader

National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has affirmed Vietnam’s commitments to building a more friendly investment and business environment for enterprises, on par with global standards and those of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), of which Turkey is a founding member.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan addresses the Turkey-Vietnam Business and Investment Forum in Istanbul, Turkey on October 8. (Photo: VNA)

Addressing the Turkey-Vietnam Business and Investment Forum in Istanbul, Turkey on October 8 – which drew about 200 Turkish and Vietnamese firms – the top legislator said that after over the past 30 years of reform, Vietnam has maintained good growth levels and become a middle-income country.

She noted that Vietnam’s GDP has reached USD 240.5 billion, with a trade value of more than USD 475 billion and a population of 95 million at a demographic golden age.

Vietnam’s investment and business environment has seen an improvement, she said, citing the World Economic Forum’s competitiveness ranking in 2017 in which Vietnam jumped five places to 55th position among 137 countries. Vietnam also leaped 14 spots on the World Bank’s Doing Business Report in 2016 to the 68^th position out of 190 economies.

Vietnam is becoming a strategic production hub for many international firms in the region thanks to the country’s attractive policies and the friendliness of the investment environment, stated the NA leader.

She briefed participants on Vietnam’s international integration process with a network of new generation free trade agreements (FTA) that are paving the way for greater cooperation and development.

Vietnam is an open economy with a two-way trade scale of USD 475 billion, nearly two times higher than its GDP, she said, adding that Vietnam shares trade partnerships with 200 countries and territories, is home to 26 types of goods with export revenue exceeding more than USD 1 billion each, and significant potential for better engaging in global supply chains.

The NA leader said that as a responsible and positive member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Vietnam has actively strengthened international integration.

Along with 10 already signed and implemented FTAs, the Vietnam-EU FTA and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will be ratified in the near future, bringing about high preferential policies from a large market of nearly 40 developed countries. Vietnam has also actively engaged in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

In order to become a modern industrial country, Vietnam is striving to maintain a GDP growth of 6.5-7 per cent per year until 2020, with GDP scale reaching USD 320-350 billion and trade value of USD 600 billion, said NA Chairwoman Ngan.

Regarding the Vietnam-Turkey economic and trade partnership, she said that since the two countries set up trade ties in August 1997, their partnership has thrived. From only several hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars in the 1990s, two-way trade reached USD 2 billion in 2017. In the Middle-East region, Turkey is the biggest non-oil partner of Vietnam.

By the end of August 2018, Turkish investors had 18 projects in Vietnam with a combined investment of USD 708.2 million, ranking 26^th out of 126 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

However, the NA leader commented that the figures have yet to meet the cooperation potential and expectation of both sides, stressing her hope that the two sides will seek effective measures to optimise the strengths of each country.

NA Chairwoman Ngan said that she hopes the business communities of Vietnam and Turkey will bring fresh ideas and provide renewed motivation in trade and investment partnerships, contributing to reinforcing and persifying the sound sentiments between the two countries and peoples.

“Vietnam will continue to keep its door wide open for Turkish enterprises seeking cooperation, business, and investment opportunities,” she declared.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Turkey-Vietnam Business Council Ali Tezolmez said that the forum is a good chance for Turkish investors to grasp investment and business partnership opportunities in Vietnam for the future.

Head of Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board Nail Olpak said that both Vietnam and Turkey are facing challenges as a result of the trade wars, requiring businesses of both sides to foster collaboration and make full use of business opportunities.

He clarified that trade diplomacy and trade liberalisation hold great power as foundations for the growth of business partnerships, adding that Vietnam-Turkey business affiliations should be based on these regulations.

During the forum, the initiative of a fund for investment in Vietnam was also introduced./.

VNF/VNA