To enhance business and investment relations between enterprises of Vietnam and Thailand, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ho Chi Minh City Branch (VCCI-HCM), collaborated with the Thai Trade Centre, Thai Ministry of Commerce and Thai Consulate General in the city to hold the "Vietnam-Thailand Business Meeting and Matching” for textile & garment, leather and shoes enterprises.
The Thai business delegation to Vietnam this time includes 40 enterprises, mainly SMEs operating in such fields as fabrics, clothing, textile materials, suitcases, bags, leather and fashion bags. Besides the purpose of understanding the needs and tastes of the textile market and footwear in Vietnam, Thai enterprises are eager to find Vietnam’s partners to grab the opportunities in these two potential areas of textile and leather.
Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony, Ms Malinee Harboonsong - Thai Commercial Consul in HCM City, said that Thailand is one of the leading countries in the development of the textile industry, especially in knitting and designing. Thus the country has launched a roadmap for the next 20 years to become the fashion centre of Asia.
According to Ms Malinee Harboonsong, programmes, seminars on cooperation in the fields of textile, footwear between enterprises of the two countries is part of the preparation for business opportunities when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is formally established in late 2015. Thai textile enterprises will adjust the business strategy, in which Vietnam is one of the focuses of Thailand as an offset to the limitations of the Thai businesses before exporting more products to EU and USA. More specifically, major corporations of Thailand are planning in the next 5 years to boost investment in Vietnam, building production centres of textiles, garments and footwear for re-export to other countries.
Mr Ekachat Seetavorarat, CEO of Fashion Business and Lifestyle Office of the Department of International Trade Promotion (Ministry of Commerce of Royal Thailand), said that in ASEAN, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia are the countries with the most developed textile and leather industry and have many similarities. However, compared with the remaining 3 countries, Vietnam still possesses many competitive advantages, particularly in terms of abundant, skilled and cheap labour force, thus the outlook of expanding the market is quite good in AEC block. Besides, Vietnam has the opportunity to cooperate with other countries in developing raw material sources, aiming to gradually reduce the amount of imported raw materials and enhance the added value.
My Chau
Vietnamese
