Binh Dinh (VNA)ꦆ – The Thai Business Meeting in Binh Dinh 2024 was held in the central province on November 22, offering opportunities for Thai businesses to gain a deeper insight into the local investment environment.

Speaking at the event, Ho Quoc Dung, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, emphasised that Thailand has been identified as one of the province's key partners. In recent years, Binh Dinh has successfully organised several investment and trade promotion events in the neighbouring country, resulting in connections, engagements, and memoranda of understanding signed with various Thai localities, businesses, and partners, paving the way for new cooperative prospects in multiple sectors. According to Dung, the conference serves as a concrete step to strengthen ties between businesses in Binh Dinh and Thailand. It also offers an opportunity to gather feedback from the business and the investor community, helping the province to fine-tune its mechanisms and policies, aiming to speed up investment attraction efforts and align with its socioeconomic development goals. Thai Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Wiraka Moodhitaporn noted that Thai-invested projects in Binh Dinh reflect the trade and investment partnership between Thailand and the province. This is in line with the policy of connecting the supply chain and the grassroots economy under the Three Connection Strategy, she added. Nguyen Trung Khanh, head of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, highlighted Thailand as Vietnam's third-largest source of inbound tourists in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a nation with extensive tourism development experience. Both Vietnam’s Tourism Marketing Strategy and the Tourism Development Strategy to 2030 prioritise ASEAN as a key traditional market, including Thailand. Khanh proposed that the provincial People’s Committee implement policies to encourage and support airlines from both countries in establishing direct flights connecting Thailand’s major tourism cities to Binh Dinh. He also called for enhanced promotional activities and cooperation to boost bilateral relations between Binh Dinh and major tourism hubs in Thailand. Pham Anh Tuan, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, affirmed that the province boasts a strategic location, abundant resources, preferential policies, and a transparent investment environment. Combined with cultural similarities, these factors make Binh Dinh an ideal destination for Thai investors. He also pledged to work alongside businesses and investors, listening to their needs, and creating favourable conditions to ensure the sustainable success of projects in the central province. A report presented at the conference revealed that Binh Dinh currently hosts 10 projects by Thai investors with a total registered capital exceeding 106 million USD. Additionally, trade between the two countries reached over 5 million USD in the first 10 months of this year. At the conference, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the provincial People’s Committee and the Thai Business Association in Vietnam, aiming to facilitate Thai enterprises in exploring investment opportunities in Binh Dinh and vice versa./.