The administration of Ho Chi Minh City and the British Business Group Vietnam (BBGV) held a round table conference on 14 October to discuss both challenges and solutions for BBGV members.
In 2018, trade between the two countries hit 6.74 billion USD (up 9.5 percent year on year), turning the UK into the third biggest EU trade partner of Vietnam. In the first eight months of this year, bilateral trade reached 4.53 billion USD, including 3.08 billion USD of exports and 557 million USD of imports by Vietnam, up 1.7 percent and 4.84 percent respectively. Meanwhile, by the end of August, the UK had invested in 366 projects worth 3.64 billion USD in Vietnam, ranking 15th among the 132 countries and territories directly investing here. In HCM City alone, there are 153 valid investment projects belonging to the UK at present, with a combined capital of over 600 million USD.
At the conference, both sides discussed problems and obstacles relevant to labour contract and social insurance procedures, tax and customs regulations and also discussed urban developments in real estate, infrastructure and transportation. A summary of questions and answers can be found as bellow:
01 Q&A – Labour Law and Social Insurance – English
01 Q&A – Labour Law Insurance Investment – Vietnamese
02 Q&A – Real Estate Construction – English
02 Q&A – Real Estate Construction – Vietnamese
03 Q&A – Others – English
03 Q&A – Others – Vietnamese
Ken Atkinson, a BBGV Board Member, also suggested that HCMC Authorities continue creating favourable conditions for UK investment and business activities so that British enterprises can further contribute to the development of the city as well as the Vietnam – UK relationship.
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