Thai-Vietnam to expand trade and investment

HANOI, July 9 (TNA) -- Thai and Vietnam have agreed to expand bilateral trade and investments, as the new president of the Thai-Vietnam Business Council is revealed, and both countries have targeted to increase trade value to 20 billion US dollars by 2020. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said this during his press conference with Vietnamese representatives from the private sector and the media on the directions of the Thai-Vietnam bilateral relations on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Thai-Vietnam diplomatic ties, during which he also introduced Mr Sanan Ungubolkul as the new President of Thailand – Vietnam Business Council. Mr Sanan said in the past 4 years, trade between Thailand and Vietnam has increased by over 40 per cent, where trade value had reached 13 billion US dollar in 2015, while both sides have targeted to hike trade values to 20 billion US dollars within the next 4 years. He said both parties' private sectors would be the main drive in achieving the targeted figure, as Thai businesses are currently investing about 8 billion US dollars in Vietnam, ranking in the 11th place for the highest number of foreign investments there. Mr Sanan said Thailand is also targeted to make it into the top 10 next year. And on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties, Thailand and Vietnam are set to organise a joint committee on the Thai-Vietnam private and public sectors, aiming to strengthen and encourage business progress. In line with the new scheme, Thai companies are ready to hire 2,000 Vietnamese workers within the next 2 years, as well as to provide 4,000 scholarships for Vietnamese students within the next 4 years. Mr Sanan expressed that Thailand hopes that bilateral business cooperation between would sides would have a high chance of success, as the Vietnamese government is presently pushing for more support to strengthen its business sphere. Prior to yesterday's press briefing, the Thai minister of foreign affairs had met with the Thai private sector in Vietnam, during which Mr Sanan had asked the government to organise a G2G meeting with Vietnam to increase convenience and investment benefits for Thailand, as well as to help boost competitiveness and solve the problems of investment resources and SMEs pairing, in which the minister said he would do his best to use the close connections between the two governments to assist on the matter. (TNA)