THE KEYS TO ECONOMIC MOMENTUM - “RAPID ADAPTATION THE KEY TO SURVIVAL”

Fred Burke - Vice chairman, Hong Kong Business Association in Vietnam.

After a slowdown in trade and investment relations between Hong Kong and Vietnam, ties are on the mend and showing signs of promise. From the Hong Kong perspective, Vietnam is already a major trading partner, one of Hong Kong’s top 10 largest trading partners for many years, and it ranked eighth in 2021 and the first nine months of 2022.

Moreover, trade has been on the rise again, with a 19.3 per cent increase in 2-way trade in 2021 and a 24.2 per cent increase in the first nine months of 2022, amounting to $25.2 billion.

We are aware that both economies are facing a challenging period ahead, with weakening export markets, rising interest rates, and inflation headwinds, but there are also many reasons for optimism looking forward.

Among other things, transportation costs for Vietnam’s exports look set to drop in the coming year, making exports to Hong Kong and its markets more competitive.

Vietnam has shown how nimble it can be during periods when rapid adaptation has been the key to survival, in terms of policymaking, energy price regulation, and credit growth.

Some challenges remain. While Hong Kong managed to lift its strict pandemic restrictions on visitors, it remains difficult for
Vietnamese to get business and work visas to come to Hong Kong.

On the Vietnam side, the government’s continued efforts to implement administrative reform have been encouraging, but licensing and permits for project implementation is still an uphill struggle.

Given the two sides’ keen interest in the expansion of trade and investment, it is easy to be confident that the challenges will be overcome and the bilateral trade and investment relationship will thrive.