A representative of a UK fỉrm delivered his speech at the forum. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Enterprises from the United Kingdom and Việt Nam, including those from Hải Dương Province, participated in a business forum on Monday to seek cooperation opportunities.

The forum was organised as part of a trade and investment promotion progamme held by the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and Hải Dương Province from Sunday to Wednesday.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK Nguyễn Hoàng Long said that since the two countries established a strategic partnership in 2010, two-way trade has tripled, reaching nearly US$7 billion by 2022.

He said the bilateral trade is expected to double by 2030 thanks to the implementation of the UK-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement and the UK's participation in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

"Việt Nam is a fast-growing economy with young and dynamic human resources. In particular, Hải Dương Province is a potential destination for British investors, especially in the fields of trade, education, and green growth," Long said.

Speaking at the event, VCCI Vice President Nguyễn Quang Vinh said that despite positive results, bilateral trade failed to match the relations between the two countries.

Businesses from the two countries needed to make more efforts to enhance connectivity and trade promotion, Vinh suggested.

VCCI's representative said that the two sides had many opportunities to cooperate in fields such as green finance, agriculture and technology, and pledged that VCCI would always be a bridge and actively support British businesses in investing and doing business in Việt Nam, as well as connecting Vietnamese businesses with reputable partners in the UK.

For his part, chairman of Hải Dương People's Committee Triệu Thế Hùng briefed his locality's advantages, such as favourable geographical location (located in the northern key economic region), convenient transportation, abundant human resources, and large land fund for industrial development.

The province also offered many attractive incentives for foreign investors, such as exemption and reduction in corporate income tax, import and export taxes, land use fees, and support in human resource training and marketing.

The province is now home to 518 foreign-invested projects with a total capital of nearly US$10 billion. Of the total, 22 projects were funded by investors from Europe, including the UK, with a total capital of $374.3 million.

The chairman said his province wanted to attract investment, especially from UK businesses, in the fields of processing industry, manufacturing, electrical industry, electronics, chemical industry, construction materials, high-tech agriculture; ecotourism and high-quality services and logistics.

He called on British businesses to invest in these fields, pledging that Hải Dương would always create the most favourable conditions for investors to operate effectively in the locality.

Alan Rides, CEO of the West London Chamber of Commerce (WLCC), said after the COVID-19 pandemic, WLCC welcomed trade delegations, including Vietnamese ones, to visit and discuss directly with the UK importers and exporters. That was a good way for the two nations' businesses to foster trade relations.

Chairman of Hải Dương People's Committee Triệu Thế Hùng. — VNA/VNS Photo

Encouraging trade turnover

He emphasised that since the signing of the UKVFTA, bilateral trade has increased significantly. The UK exports to Việt Nam amount to one billion pounds ($1.22 billion) per year, while Việt Nam exports around six billion pounds worth of goods to the UK annually.

Regarding Việt Nam as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the CEO said he believed that British businesses would have the potential to export pharmaceuticals and educational services, finance, insurance and many other services to Việt Nam while Việt Nam could export food, seafood, and furniture to the UK.

As the second largest chamber of commerce in London, specialising in connecting and promoting trade and business cooperation between the UK and emerging and developing economies, WLCC was willing to support Vietnamese businesses in finding business opportunities in the UK.

Việt Nam-UK trade achieved positive results over the past nine months of this year amid export activities from Việt Nam to Europe this year facing many challenges, due to decelerating regional economic growth and high inflation. That made people and businesses to limit their spending.

During the reviewed period, two-way trade reached more than $5.26 billion, up 1 per cent over the same period last year. Of which, exports of goods from Việt Nam to the UK hit $4.67 billion, a yearly increase of 0.6 per cent, while its imports of goods from the UK saw a year-on-year rise of 2.3 per cent to over $587.1 million.

Việt Nam is currently the UK's ninth largest trade partner while the UK is Việt Nam's third largest European trade partner.

The two nations are striving to raise bilateral trade to $10 billion in the near future.

Regarding investment, the UK has 542 investment projects in Việt Nm with a total registered capital of $4.29 billion, ranking 15th among 143 countries and territories investing directly in the Southeast Asian country. — VNS