HCM City (VNA) –Vietnam and Hong Kong (China) are in the face of big opportunities to push upinvestment and trade cooperation, experts said at a workshop held in Ho ChiMinh City on September 20.

The workshop on “Vietnam-HongKong cooperation for prosperity” was part of the “In Style – Hong Kong”, thelargest trade, investment and lifestyle promotion event ever held in Vietnam bythe Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

Financial Secretary of the HongKong Special Administrative Region Paul Chan Mo-po said Hong Kong is China’skey gateway to the world and vice versa, while Vietnam is among economies withthe most impressive growth in Asia.

He said Vietnam, with its rapidinfrastructure, economic and technological development, has clear growthorientations and attracted attention from foreign investors, including thosefrom Hong Kong.

The partnership between Hong Kongand Vietnam will play a key role in shaping Asia’s development into a strategiccentre in many fields, he stressed, adding that the ASEAN-Hong Kong free tradeagreement, which was signed last year, is considered a boost to trade,investment and service flows between the two sides in the coming time.

Agreeing with the view, JonathanK. S. Choi, Chairman of the Hong Kong-based Sunwah Group, said Vietnam and HongKong have advantages to supplement each other in economic cooperation.

He said Vietnam is currently notonly an export processing centre but also a large-scale consumption market witha growing middle class, adding that it is an aspect that Hong Kong companiescould exploit.

To captitalise on chances offeredby both sides’ potential, Chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development CouncilVincent H.S. Lo suggested Vietnamese firms actively attract financial sourcesfrom Hong Kong to develop domestic infrastructure and industry, while usingtrade transaction floors in Hong Kong to promote its goods to global buyers.

He said Hong Kong firms need toquickly set up partnerships with their Vietnamese enterprises to seizeinvestment and business opportunities in the market and expand their reach toother markets in ASEAN.

Lo noted the two economies stillhave large room to boost investment in the fields where Hong Kong holdsstrengths and Vietnam have demand such as supporting industry, finance –banking, and logistics.

Sharing his investment experiencein Vietnam, John Cheh from the Hong Kong-based Esquel Group said foreignbusinesses operating in Vietnam should not only focus on cheap labour forexport processing, but also pay attention to creating core values andcontributing to the country’s socio-economic development.

He said Vietnam now owns manyhigh competitive production sectors and a quality workforce, along anincreasing consumption power.

Cheh said Hong Kong enterprisesshould work with Vietnamese partners to produce goods and develop the market,and advised them to pay their local workers properly in exchange for theirlong-term commitments.

Vietnam is Hong Kong’s biggest exportmarket in ASEAN and its 6th largest export market in the world.Meanwhile, Hong Kong is Vietnam’s 9th biggest trade partner and 6th biggest foreign investor.

Bilateral trade exceeded 18billion USD in 2017. By the end of August 2018, Hong Kong has a total of 1,353projects worth 19 billion USD in Vietnam, mainly focusing on the fields ofproduction, logistics, food processing, hotel and travel.-VNA