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The ambassador expressed such belief on the sidelines of the seminar on Vietnam – Malaysia business opportunities in automotive sector on April 18 organized by MATRADE, the Trade Office of the Embassy of Malaysia, with the support from the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and Vietnam Industry Agency (VIA), a state body under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam.
However, Vietnam is still at a low level of automation compared with other countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Thailand, the ambassador noted.
“I think the prospects for automotive sector in Vietnam are still very big and we have to wait for the support and incentives from government to attract many kinds of manufacturers from other countries to relocate in Vietnam,” he told Hanoitimes on the sidelines of the meeting.
The Malaysian diplomat said that his country and Vietnam enjoy a warm and strong bilateral relationship over 46 years of diplomatic relations. Over the last ten years, trade exchange has expanded by an average annual growth of 11.7%, from US$4.4 billion in 2009 to US$13.3 billion in 2018.
“On investments, up to December 2018, Malaysia was the eighth largest foreign investor in Vietnam, with an accumulated investment of USD12.48 billion for 586 projects,” said Khalid M. Zamruni.
In August 2015, the prime ministers of Malaysia and Vietnam agreed to upgrade bilateral relations to a strategic partnership. One of their key aspirations is to achieve bilateral trade of US$15 billion or more by 2020.
Vietnam remains an important trading partner for Malaysia, being the 13th largest globally and the fourth within ASEAN. Vietnam is also an important investment destination for Malaysia as the latter remains the eighth largest foreign investor in Vietnam as of 2018.
During the seminar, a delegation of 28 representatives from 16 Malaysian companies were updated on future plans of Vietnam’s automotive sector and explored its opportunities. They also hoped to establish strategic collaboration and business ties with Vietnamese enterprises.
The delegation features highly reputable auto parts and components manufacturers who are currently supplying to Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, BMW, Volvo and Volkswagen, among others, as well as Proton and Perodua in Malaysia.
On this occasion, MATRADE also organized a one-to-one business matching session between Malaysian and Vietnamese companies.