Kien Giang (VNA) – A forumtook place in the island city of Phu Quoc on July 7 to connect enterprises of Vietnam’ssouthern province of Kien Giang and Thailand so as to boost bilateral trade,investment, and tourism.

Le Quoc Anh, Vice Chairman ofthe Kien Giang People’s Committee, said the province always welcomes domesticand foreign investors, affirming that it will create the best possibleconditions for them to successfully carry out investment, production andbusiness projects and guarantee sustainable development for the future.

According to the VietnameseEmbassy in Thailand, overseas Vietnamese are running about 1,000 enterprises inThailand, a number of which are operating profitably in many sectors such asindustry, agriculture, food processing, export - import, goods distribution,logistics, services, construction, restaurant, and hospitality.

Some of those firms aremoving to expand operation to Vietnam, but that number remains modest comparedto businesses of Thailand.

Thailand currently ranks 9th among the foreign investors in Vietnam, with over 650 projects worth more than 13billion USD. It is also the largest ASEAN trading partner of Vietnam as bilateral trade stood at 19.5 billion USD in 2021 and 5 billion USD in thefirst quarter of this year. The two countries are looking to raise trade revenue to 25billion USD by 2025.

In Kien Giang, Thaienterprises are investing in five projects worth about 470 million USD.

The province is calling forinvestment to five pillars of socio-economic development, namely high-techagriculture, renewable and clean energy, tourism, trade in services - educationand training - health care, and maritime economy, local authorities said.

At the forum, Kien Giangintroduced its potential, opportunities, and demand for export, import andtourism cooperation. Participants were also informed of investment andbusiness demand of Thai enterprises.

The Thai - Vietnamese EntrepreneursAssociation proposed local authorities organise more trade, tourism andinvestment promotion events in Thailand so as to help strong products of theprovince make inroads into Thailand while attracting more investors and touriststo Phu Quoc.

Vietnamese Ambassador toThailand Phan Chi Thanh recommended the provincial People’s Committee issue concretemechanisms and policies to provide optimal conditions for overseas Vietnamesefirms in the world, including those in Thailand, to invest in Kien Giang./.