Connecting businesses of 5 ASEAN countries, elevating Vietnamese brands

The 2023 Thailand - Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia - Myanmar Business Forum introduces and promotes Vietnam's investment and business environment, promoting exports to countries in the region.

Tăng cường kết nối doanh nghiệp 5 quốc gia ASEAN, nâng tầm thương hiệu Việt

Vietnamese longan on the shelves of Tops supermarket in Centralworld shopping mall, Bangkok, Thailand, August 2023. (Source: Industry and Trade)

Under the auspices of the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand, the 2023 Thailand - Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia - Myanmar Business Forum, which attracted the participation of hundreds of overseas Vietnamese businesses, took place from November 17-19 in Udon Thani province, northeastern Thailand. This event creates opportunities for connection and trade cooperation between businesses in 5 Southeast Asian countries.

The forum was organized by the Thai-Vietnamese Business Association in collaboration with the Overseas Vietnamese Business Association.

Attending this year's event were Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh; Vietnamese Consul General in Khon Kaen Chu Duc Dung; Mr. Nguyen Manh Dong, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with about 300 delegates representing the Udon Thani provincial government; representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy in Laos; Vietnamese enterprises and overseas Vietnamese enterprises in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Speaking at the forum, Ambassador Phan Chi Thanh highly appreciated the efforts of the Thai-Vietnamese Business Association in supporting the connection of businesses from five ASEAN countries including Thailand - Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia - Myanmar.

The Ambassador affirmed that the forum is a turning point in the development of the successes from investment, trade and tourism promotion activities in 2022 that overseas Vietnamese businesses in Thailand have conducted in some localities of Vietnam. In addition, the forum is also a suitable and effective connection channel for businesses to deploy cooperation opportunities in the future.

According to Ambassador Phan Chi Thanh, Vietnam and Thailand are each other's leading economic partners in the region as well as in the world.

In terms of trade, Thailand is Vietnam's largest trading partner in ASEAN and the ninth largest investor in Vietnam. Two-way trade turnover in 2022 reached 20.51 billion USD and will soon reach the target of 25 billion USD in the near future.

According to Mr. Ho Van Lam, Chairman of the Thai-Vietnamese Business Association in Thailand, this year's Forum also includes product exhibitions, trade promotion, and technology exchange activities to share experiences, enhance trade, exchange, connect, and form networks between Vietnamese businesses and businesses from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar as well as businesses from member countries of the Overseas Vietnamese Business Association, in the fields of agriculture, tourism, services, high technology, export, and finance.

In addition, the Forum also introduces and promotes Vietnam's investment and business environment, promotes the export of Vietnamese goods to countries in the region; contributes to realizing the Government's Project on "Mobilizing overseas Vietnamese to participate in introducing, consuming products and developing distribution channels for Vietnamese goods abroad, period 2020-2024".

Mr. Duong Dinh Bang, Chairman of the Association of Vietnamese Enterprises in Laos (AVILA), assessed that the Forum not only creates opportunities for connection and experience sharing among participating businesses but also helps to elevate Vietnamese brands.

Within the framework of the event, businesses signed cooperation agreements, actively contributing to strengthening and improving the effectiveness of economic cooperation among the five countries of Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

According to the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, to date, there have been nearly 400 investment projects by overseas Vietnamese returning to the country with a registered capital of about 1.72 billion USD.

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