Vietnamese firms ready to spread to other Asian markets
Many small Vietnamese businesses have developed into companies that are ready to spread their wings to the rest of Asia, said Thng Tien Tat, Executive Director of Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Vietnam.
Singapore’s leading daily, The Business Times, quoted Thgn as saying that companies from the manufacturing, trading and oil and gas industries are taking the lead in Vietnam's expansion into the region.
To help Vietnamese businesses expand their operations in Asia, UOB in Vietnam has launched an FDI advisory unit, which will give UOB customers expanding in and out of Vietnam access to the bank's full suite of corporate and personal banking products, he said.
According to him, from the first half of 2012 to the first half of 2013, UOB's business flows between Vietnam and Asia increased 20%. From 2010 to 2012, trade between Vietnam and Asia grew by 46.7% to US$150.4 billion.
Edlyn Khoo, IE Singapore's centre director for Ho Chi Minh City, said that the setting up of the UOB advisory unit is an additional tool that helps facilitate trade and investment between companies from both countries.
“Partnerships in the financial sector were a key area highlighted at the recent bilateral strategic partnership agreement,” he added.
Earlier this month, Singapore and Vietnam signed a strategic partnership agreement to deepen their ties on the political, economic, defence, security and international fronts during Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's visit to Vietnam.
Khoo stressed that Singaporean companies can bring relevant global experience and connections to Vietnamese firms planning their next stage of growth.
UOB has opened seven FDI advisory centres since 2011 in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Vietnam. It plans to opens two others in Myanmar in December this year and India in the first half of 2014.