Trade between Viet Nam and Malaysia has increased dramatically in recent years but they still have great untapped potential, a seminar heard in HCM City on Wednesday (May 22).

Speaking at Gateway into the Malaysia Market through Selangor International Business Summit 2019 organised by Invest Selangor Berhad and the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City (ITPC), Faizal Izany Mastor, trade commissioner of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, said the two countries target US$15 billion worth of trade by 2020.

It was $11.5 billion last year.

His country is the eighth largest investor in Viet Nam with nearly $12.5 billion in 586 projects, Mastor said.

Nguyen Tuan, ITPC deputy director, said: “Many Malaysian enterprises have come to HCM City to seek business opportunities in the last 12 months.”

The seminar would help local businesses get the latest market information and learn about opportunities and challenges in the Malaysian market, especially halal market, he said.

Mastor said: “Viet Nam has strength in agriculture and aquaculture. I think there are very huge areas of opportunity for Vietnamese companies to export to Malaysia.”

To successfully promote their products in his country, he said Vietnamese companies should “understand the culture and preferences of Malaysian people”.

“In addition to that, Vietnamese companies also need to be equipped with certification for products. By having all this, I believe Vietnamese companies can easily penetrate Malaysia.”

Dato’ Teng Chang Khim, Selangor State Executive Councillor for Investment, Industry and Commerce and Small and Medium Enterprises, said there is a lot of co-operation opportunities between Vietnamese and Malaysian SMEs.

“Viet Nam is a very important manufacturing country while Malaysia is very strong in services and trading. Therefore, we can co-operate, with Malaysia introducing and marketing products from Viet Nam.

“Malaysia also has strength in logistics. For example, we have the second largest seaport in Southeast Asia after Singapore, and the cost is much cheaper in Malaysia than in Singapore. This is a field in which we can work with Vietnamese manufacturers so that our infrastructure can be fully utilised by the business community in Viet Nam.”

It is very important for products from Southeast Asia to be shipped outside ASEAN, he said.

He also called on Vietnamese SMEs to participate in the Selangor International Expo and Selangor International Business Summit to be held in October in Kuala Lumpur to get more information about the Malaysian and Southeast Asian markets.

The expo, which focuses on food and beverages, would be a good platform for Vietnamese enterprises to “showcase their food and beverages to the world”, he said.

The summit is not only a gateway to the Malaysian market but also a springboard to the broader ASEAN market which has over 600 million consumers and more than 200 of the world’s largest companies, he said.

It is expected to have 850 booths from 40 countries and receive 30,000 visitors, he added.

Halal certification

The seminar also touched on the halal certification requirement in Muslim countries.

Zukarnine Shah Zainal Abidin, representative of Halal International Selangor, said by 2030 the global halal market is expected to be between $7.7 trillion and $30.6 trillion.

“Halal certification is becoming more relevant in today's market mainly because people are more aware of the halal concept.

The certification is becoming essential to expand market reach, he said. — VNS