Vietnam-Canada Investment Forum explores co-operation opportunities

The Vietnam-Canada Investment Forum was held as part of a wide range of events organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in Canada over recent years in a bid to promote greater economic diplomacy and serve the country's overall development.

Currently, both the Vietnamese and Canadian economies are showing positive signs of recovery, with the Southeast Asian nation’s economic growth rate estimated to have increased by 5.03% during the first quarter of the year.

Furthermore, Canadian GDP jumped 6.7% in the final quarter of last year, with both countries applying a safe COVID-19 pandemic adaptation strategy.

In this context, the Vietnam-Canada Investment Forum can be viewed as a prime opportunity for Vietnam to attract greater investment, whilst also strengthening the supply chain between the two sides amid the uncertain global environment.

Over the past two years, despite enduring the COVID-19 pandemic, the development momentum of the friendship and comprehensive co-operation between the two governments and citizens of each  side has been actively maintained.

Meetings, phone calls, and exchange of letters between Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau, as well as between the various leaders of ministries and sectors, have served to create a favourable basis for bilateral economic connectivity.

According to details given by Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada Pham Cao Phong, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), of which Vietnam and Canada are founding members and which features tax incentives on both consumer goods and raw materials, has created favourable conditions for trade and investment activities. In addition, it has also boosted supply chains between the two countries, thereby actively contributing to ensuring human security and economic security between both sides.

Ambassador Pham Cao Phong emphazised that Vietnam continues to represent an attractive destination for investment and business activities, largely due to its political and macroeconomic stability, geographical location, favourable environmental and land conditions, dynamic and abundant human resources, along with many other factors.

The country has improved its business and investment policies, whilst it has also devised master plans and an industrial development strategy towards 2025 with a vision for 2035, with a view of fully tapping into its long-term growth potential.

Speaking at the forum, Representative Laurie Scott, Parliamentary Assistant to the Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, affirmed that Ontario wishes to continue to strengthen its relationship with the Vietnamese side, particularly as the nation has been Canada's largest trading partner in ASEAN since 2015.

Most notably, two-way trade value between the country and the Canadian capital reached nearly CAD6 billion, equal to US$4.7 billion, in 2021, accounting for a large proportion, over  50%, in joint trade turnover.

With strong GDP growth and a growing middle class, the Vietnamese market is now an important one for Ontario, the North American nation’s most populous province.

With Ontario making every effort to diversify its international trade, the provincial administration sees real opportunities for businesses in the financial service, information and communications technology, and infrastructure development sectors.

In line with this, it is hoped that Vietnam can act as a bridge connecting Canadian businessmen to the 14 other members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a huge market with approximately 30% of the world's population, 2.2 billion people which also makes up 30% of global GDP, US$26.2 trillion.

Meanwhile, Canada can serve as a door in which Vietnamese goods can penetrate the US and Mexican markets, both of which are members of the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement.

At the forum, representatives of Canadian and Vietnamese companies such as FPT Canada, Manulife Vietnam, and Dan On Food Canada shared their businesses' market access strategies, challenges, and opportunities.

The event also expects additional Vietnamese investors to be interested in the Canadian market as it is considered a leader in energy and agriculture, whilst it also boasts a very strong logging and seafood processing sector.

The Vietnam-Canada Investment Forum is regarded as a venue in which both nations’ authorities, as well as the business communities, can come together to find solutions to increase investment capital flows in both the public and private sectors. In addition, both sides can use the platform to explore the potential for co-operation and at the same time deepen ties of bilateral friendship.