The Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) market in Vietnam has been going through a downturn due to the pandemic, but the technology sector is bucking the trend, according to experts at a seminar on digital transformation and M&A on January 11.

As of December 31, 2020, Vietnam counted 683,600 operational enterprises, up 35.3% from 2016, the 2021 economic census revealed.

The business community hopes the Government will maintain Resolution 128 on flexibly and safely adapting to and effectively controlling COVID-19, and keep its motto unchanged even when adjusting or upgrading it, according to a proposal on measures to support tourism sector's post-pandemic recovery.

Vietnam plans to strongly improve its business environment and rapidly increase the number of newly-established firms, according to a draft resolution on tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and national competitiveness in 2022.

Large retail firms are to gain even more market share this year as smaller competitors have been forced to exit the game after prolonged lockdowns and mobility restrictions during recent years, said industry experts.

As many as 45.4% of businesses in a recent survey conducted by the General Statistics Office (GSO) forecast that their production would increase in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.

About 5,600 digital technology firms were established in 2021, raising the total number of such firms in Vietnam to around 64,000, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Enterprises in Japan’s Hokuriku region highly valued Vietnam’s business environment and pinned high hopes on the prospect of bilateral cooperation in the future.

Foreign investors poured US$9 billion into Vietnamese retail and wholesale markets between January and November, accounting for 2.2% of the country’s total capital, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said.

The US’s Warburg Pincus plans to implement a cross-border e-commerce project in Binh Duong province – a magnet for FDI in the south of Vietnam, according to the provincial People’s Committee.