Reed Tradex: Ready to catch new investment opportunities in Vietnam

Could you share the results Reed Tradex achieved in Vietnam last year?

2016 marked the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Reed Tradex in Vietnam. We have delivered over 30,000 quality visitors, covered two economic hubs of Vietnam which are Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

One of the key points, which make exhibitors feel confident to continue participating in our exhibitions, is not only the specialized content, but also good preparations, comprehensive marketing plans to deliver the right targeted partners to all participants.

What is your assessment on the market-oriented investment environment in Vietnam?

In many ways, Vietnam is an emerging Asian market with high investment potential. According to the World Investment Report 2016, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Vietnam have increased considerably, and are expected to continue growing, confirming the country’s position as the third most attractive country in terms of FDI in Asia, just behind China and India. In the past, FDI flows were directed towards light industry, but they are now quickly turning towards heavy industry, real estate, franchise and tourism. With the positive effects from FDI, Vietnam now produces high value-added products such as smart phones and tablets.

Vietnam is a country of changes and currently offers increasing opportunities for foreign businesses. It is now exactly time for foreign investors to start their business plans and grasp the upcoming clear opportunities.

What are the opportunities that Vietnam needs to grasp, and also challenges which should be viewed objectively to prepare for its integration into the global economy?

Vietnam has become a new destination for investors in the fields of technology, industrial and human resource development, including high-tech investors from Japan and Korea. Manufacturing is the most attractive sector to foreign investors.

Currently, most of Vietnamese products are made with backward technologies. It is also a challenge for Vietnam to fill up the gap in supply chains for high-tech investors.

Vietnam targets the production of 227,000 automobiles and aims to be a supplier of spare parts and high-value items for the world automobile market by 2020. Under the AFTA agreement, auto imports from ASEAN countries will be exempted entirely from import tariffs from 2018. This will be a challenge for the Vietnamese automobile sector, requiring it to create comparative advantages in terms of quality and price.

Evenly, a car assembled in Vietnam is more expensive than in the US, because only a small number of domestic manufactures invest seriously in production to improve their competitiveness, while most others operate at simple assembling level. Today, the ratio of the number of car per habitant in Vietnam is still around 1 percent. There are challenges but also opportunities for Vietnam’s automotive industry in a long way to become a mass market. Therefore, to improve competitiveness, local companies need to have specific development plans to win in the home market.

According to McKinsey Global Institute, to achieve the government-set economic growth target of 7-8 percent by 2020, Vietnam needs to boost its overall labor productivity growth by more than 50 percent, from 4.1 percent annually to 6.4 percent. More than ever, a long-term infrastructure development is recommended to be set up, focusing on investor needs and addressing shortages of skilled workers through intensive training programs and the introduction of common standards for workers to upgrade themselves.

How does Reed Tradex, as an exhibition organizer, engage to support industrialists and manufacturers in Vietnam to catch up new business opportunities?

In recent years, Vietnam has made a shift from subcontracting and assembling to processing and manufacturing. The integration pressure on industrial products therefore will increase in the near future.

Setting our role as a business promoter, especially in manufacturing industry, we do believe that modern and high technology will help Vietnam narrow the gap between it and the world. The world is changing; the game “big fish eat little fish” is not going well anymore, replaced by “fast fish eat slow fish”.

To turn challenges into opportunities, in 2017, we will focus on making our exhibition programs more competitive by not only presenting machinery, but also coordinating with concerned organizations, experts and businesses who are holding the technology to implement the transmission of knowledge resources, technology transfer and exchange of the ability to apply technology and machinery practically, with highest financial efficiency for the manufacturers in Vietnam.

We also aim to create our exhibitions to become “one platform, one station” for the industrialist community. Our exhibitions offer a place for domestic manufacturers to exchange and connect to be able to win in the local market, as well as for those from Japan, South Korea, and Europe to gain more advantages and get in lane quickly with global standards. Vietnam Manufacturing Expo 2017 will welcome local and foreign industrialists, and come along with business connection programs.