HCMC - Representatives of the Canadian
Chamber of Commerce (CanCham) are pinning high hopes that two-way trade between
Canada and Vietnam would continue the steep uptrend in the future.
The strong trade expansion between the two
countries was projected by Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the
192,000-member CanCham, and Winnie Lam, president of CanCham Vietnam.
Canada already stepped up trade with Vietnam
with an all-time bilateral trade high of over US$1.4 billion last year and
“this is a clear sign of optimism in the trade relationship with Vietnam,” Lam
told the Daily on Monday.
Beatty, who was one of the delegates
accompanying Canadian Governor General David Johnston to Vietnam last week,
said steady growth in two-way trade between Canada and Vietnam over the past
year to the more than US$1.4 billion was just the beginning.
“I think we have the opportunity to grow trade
between the two countries substantially,” Beatty told the Daily last week in
HCMC when the Canadian Governor General was in this economic hub of Vietnam to
meet with the city’s leaders and representatives from the business community.
Beatty said one of the important elements of
the Canadian Governor General’s visit from November 16 to 19 was to help create
awareness in Vietnam about Canada and vice versa, as well as better
understanding of how companies of the two countries were able to build
partnerships.
Lam of CanCham Vietnam said Vietnam as a
growing economy would continue to evolve and with a clear demonstration on the
improvement of economic reforms, banking and finance structuring, Canadian
companies would see beyond what was in the immediate future but focus on a
sustainable relationship.
Lam said Canadian companies continued to
pursue opportunities in Vietnam with a focus on different sectors including
agriculture, education, information and communications technology (ICT) and
wood products.
“Vietnam is a land of opportunity,” Lam said
and took for example that life insurance firm Manulife Vietnam’s reported
year-on-year strong growth in the first nine months of this year mirrored the
success of many other CanCham member companies operating in this market.
The new business annual premiums equivalent
growth of over 40% in the third quarter of 2011 compared to the same period
last year confirmed by David Wong, senior vice president of Manulife ASEAN
Operations when he responded to a relevant question raised by the Daily at a
press conference in HCMC on Monday, after the company received the ISO
9001:2008 quality management certificate from Bureau Veritas.
Wong told the certificate presentation
ceremony that Manulife had built a very strong foundation in Vietnam. It is now
providing financial protection and wealth management services to more than
300,000 customers through a network of over 10,000 agents in Vietnam.
Beatty said a number of Canadian businesses
doing well in Vietnam included Manulife, Talisman and BlackBerry. He noted
however that the vast majority of Canadian companies had not had experience in
this market.
“It takes time (for Canadian companies) to
develop relationships, understand the culture, laws and how to do business and
find partners…,” Beatty said. He added that a foreign investment protection
agreement planned between Canada and Vietnam would create confidence among
Canadian investors and be good to attract Canadian investors to Vietnam.
Mong Binh - The Saigon Times Daily
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