South Africa - Bridge for Vietnam to Further Enter African and European Markets

Making opening remarks, Mr Nguyen The Hung, Deputy Director of the VCCI-HCM, said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1993, cooperation relations between Vietnam and South Africa have constantly been evolving in all fields and achieved new progress, especially in trade and investment cooperation. Both countries consider this an important area of cooperation in the future.

 

Currently, South Africa is the largest export market of Vietnam to Africa, and also the second largest partner among the 55 African countries having trade relations with Vietnam. In 2014, trade turnover between Vietnam and South Africa reached US$962 million (up 5 percent compared to 2013). Particularly, Vietnam's exports to South Africa reached US$815 million and imports US$147 million. Particularly in the first 4 months of 2015, Vietnam exported to South Africa the total turnover of US$340.5 million, of which mobile products and components accounting for more than one half, reaching US$189.9 million. In the product structure exported to South Africa, textile and footwear items usually reach high turnover and rank second only to China, India or Thailand. Mr Hung stressed: "These are major export commodities of advantages for Vietnam in the context that the demand for Vietnam's goods is increasing in South Africa. Seizing this opportunity, if businesses pay more attention to quality and price competitiveness, it is very likely that Vietnamese goods will take the place of goods from China, India and Thailand to take up higher market shares in South Africa."

 

Agreeing with Mr Hung, Mr Paresh Pandya, representative of the Trade Promotion Department of Mpumalanga province (South Africa) said: "South Africa and Vietnam wish to continue to further promote cooperation, especially in the field of textiles, footwear, seafood and wine production in order to further tighten the bilateral trade relations and bring it to a new level, promoting the cooperation and development potential of the two countries."

 

Particularly in the field of investment, Mr Brian Soldaat shared that South Africa had been one of the latest emerging markets in the world which was diverse and promising. With its position as the gateway of the African continent and also the economic engine of Africa, South Africa is a significant investment destination to enter neighbouring markets as well as a gateway to enter a market with about 1 billion people.

 

In investment cooperation with Vietnam, South Africa has always considered Vietnam a leading strategic partner in Southeast Asia. South Africa has invested more than US$100 billion on infrastructure in Vietnam over the past 5 years and is planning to invest more than US$400 billion in the upcoming 15 years. South Africa always calls for Vietnamese businesses to invest in South Africa in the fields with potential such as clean energy, textile, electrical infrastructure, telecommunications, tourism, pharmaceuticals, movie industry infrastructure, etc. Mr Brian Soldaat added that South Africa had signed free trade agreements with the Europe; therefore investing in South Africa is not only exploring the African market but also the opportunity to deeper connect with the European market.

 

In investment attraction activities, South Africa has tax preferential policies for investors. In addition, enterprises can be refunded up to US$90 million of the invested amount. Currently the fields South Africa is encouraging and giving incentives to include electrical equipment, household appliances, textiles, leather, fabrics, consumer products, pulp, paper, furniture, auto parts, mineral mining, green industry, etc. This is a fertile ground for Vietnamese enterprises to explore and invest in.