VINACHEM

(VEN) - At a conference on potentialities and opportunities for investment with Singaporean partners, which took place in Hanoi on December 12, 2010, Raymond Lui, the Second Secretary at the Singaporean Embassy in Vietnam, who represents the International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), an agency that provides assistance for Singaporean companies to do business overseas, said that Vietnam is a very important market for Singapore.

Economic cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore has developed strongly since the two countries signed an agreement on economic connectivity in 2005. Trade between Vietnam and Singapore totaled only US$10.4 billion in 2005, which has now increased by about 490 percent to US$51 billion. Vietnam imports from Singapore products such as petroleum, computers and computer components, machinery, equipment and spare parts, plastic materials, chemicals and paper. Vietnam's exports to Singapore include crude oil, seafood, rice, computers, textiles and garments, coffee, pepper, footwear, fruit and vegetables, and plastic products.

In September 2010, with 851 projects remaining valid in fields such as education and training, finance, information and communications, trade and service, transportation, infrastructure and tourism, with total registered investment capital of US$17.9 billion, Singapore ranked fifth among more than 80 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Currently, many Singaporean companies are interested in investment in Vietnam in fields such as processing industry, manufacturing industry, real estate trading, construction, accommodation services, hotel and restaurant. At the above mentioned conference, five Singaporean companies operating in the fields of real estate, healthcare, education, law consultancy and logistics discussed opportunities for investment and cooperation with some Vietnamese partners.

Raymond Lui said that in parallel with offering preferences to attract foreign companies to do business in Singapore, the Singaporean Government encourages domestic companies to carry out investment projects overseas, especially in countries that have a stable political, social situation and abundant human resources like Vietnam.

Raymond Lui affirmed that most Singaporean companies are long-term investors. Even in circumstances of the global financial crisis and economic recession in 2008-2009, Singaporean companies continued to invest abroad. In the field of infrastructure development for example, Singaporean companies' presence in Vietnam began more than 10 years ago and they are increasing investment in Vietnam. In the field of real estate, many Singaporean investors such as CapitalLand, Banyan Tree and Allgreen Properties have achieved considerable success in Vietnam.

One of the most successful Singaporean investors in the Vietnamese real estate market is the Keppel Land Group which has been operational in Vietnam for 12 years with 16 investment projects totally capitalized at about US$3.2 billion. Currently, KeppelLand is expediting many large-scaled investment projects in Ho Chi Minh City, including shopping centers, hotels, international-standard apartments for rent, The Estella, and Waterfront Condominium.

Vietnam is attracting foreign investment in fields such as electronics, information technology, hotel, tourism, real estate, processing of agricultural and aquatic products. These are the fields where Singaporean companies have advantages. However, in the opinion of Le Truong Son, the Investment Counselor of the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore, Singaporean companies still lack information about Vietnam and the connectivity between the business communities of the two countries remains loose. Only about 20 Vietnamese companies are doing business in Singapore with total capital of more than US$100 million, he said.

To increase investment cooperation with Singapore and attract more Singaporean investment into Vietnam, the Vietnamese Government has sent some officials to Singapore to call for investment and help businesses of the two countries expand cooperation. In the opinion of experts, Vietnam and Singapore must establish channels to provide businesses with information about the investment and business environment, the market and partners in each country.