Hồ Văn Lâm, chairman of the Thailand- Việt Nam Business Association talks about investment opportunities in HCM City at the Thailand-HCM City Business Connection Forum in the city on Friday (July 8). VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Anh

HCM CITY — The potential to boost trade and investment ties between Thailand and HCM City is huge since economic linkages between the two countries has been expanding rapidly, a forum has heard.

Speaking at the Thailand-HCM City Business Connection Forum on Friday in HCM City, Võ Văn Hoan, deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee, said the city has been one of Thailand’s leading investment partners for years.

Investors from Thailand had invested more than US$482 million in 235 projects as of last year, making Thailand the city’s 12th largest FDI partner out of 116 countries and territories.

Most of Thailand's projects in the city were in chemicals, food, construction materials, tourism, warehousing, and logistics industries.

Last year trade between Thailand and HCM City was worth more than $2.8 billion.

Việt Nam’s ambassador to Thailand, Phan Chí Thành, said the overseas Vietnamese business community plays a vital role in trade and investment ties between the two countries.

Around 1,000 businesses are owned by ethnic Vietnamese in Thailand, most of them small or medium-sized and in a wide range of sectors, he said.

Many of them have been expanding their business in Việt Nam, but their number is modest compared to Thai-owned businesses investing in the country, he said.

He said a distribution network of high-quality products from Việt Nam should be set up in Thailand and reciprocated in HCM City.

Hồ Văn Lâm, chairman of the Thailand- Việt Nam Business Association, said trade, investment and tourism promotion events should be regularly organised in Thailand to foster trade and investment exchanges with overseas Vietnamese and Thai businesses.

Nguyễn Văn Minh, an overseas Vietnamese entrepreneur in Bangkok, said Thai products are increasingly consumed in Việt Nam but the reverse is not true.

The overseas Vietnamese business community is a good channel to help expand the distribution of Vietnamese goods in Thailand, he said.

Thai businesses are seeking long-term co-operation with businesses in HCM City in fields such as high-tech agriculture, digital transformation, education, and tourism, he added.

Thailand has risen to become Việt Nam’s biggest trading partner in ASEAN and the ninth largest foreign investor in Việt Nam with more than 600 projects worth more than $13 billion. 

Trade between the two countries was worth $5 billion in the first quarter of this year, and they plan to increase it to $ 25 billion by 2025. — VNS