HA NOI (VNS) — Vietnamese businesses need to make the best of Hong Kong as a gateway for bringing their goods to other markets, said experts.

They also highlighted Hong Kong as a potential export market for Vietnamese goods during a recent seminar to discuss ways to boost exports to the territory.

According to Director of the Export Assistance Centre under the Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency Le Xuan Duong, despite its population of more than 7 million, the Hong Kong Administrative Region recorded a very high per capita income of US$36,000 in 2012.

He said that Hong Kong primarily imports food and foodstuffs from abroad due to its shortage of cultivated land, which creates favourable conditions for the Vietnamese agricultural sector to promote exports to this lucrative market.

Its main advantages are modern transport infrastructure, low tax rates, minimal government interference in business, and well developed services for retail and wholesale trade, he added.

Experts also said that Hong Kong has the busiest airport in the world for transporting international cargo and the third busiest container port.

As an important financial and trade centre for Asia and the world, Hong Kong is considered an ideal destination for major Asia Pacific companies as well as a trade and investment gateway linking China with other countries.

A double tax avoidance agreement between Viet Nam and Hong Kong that became effective on January 2010 has also helped increase Vietnamese exports to Hong Kong .

In 2012, Viet Nam ranked 17th out of 30 countries with the strongest trade ties with Hong Kong, raking in $4.7 billion in total export-import turnover, of which Viet Nam exported $3.7 billion, up 12 per cent, and import $1 billion worth of goods, up 10.7 percent over a year earlier.

Key Vietnamese exports include agricultural produce, office and telecommunication equipment, computers, electronic and semi-conductor components. — VNS