During the afternoon of May 23rd 2023, the CACCI Presidential Delegation moved to the Australian Embassy in Vietnam for a scheduled meeting with Mr. Mark Tattersall, Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission in Vietnam and his colleagues.

Following Mr. McMullin’s brief introduction of CACCI and its activities, Mr. Tattersall shared the following relevant information to the visiting delegation:

(a) Australia has a strong economic presence in Hanoi. Some 300,000 Vietnamese have studied in Australia over the past years, of which around 80,000 Vietnamese students have come back to Vietnam. There are 3,000 Vietnamese currently studying in Australia.

(b) The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and Vietnam, with Australia being one of the first to recognize Vietnam after the Paris Accord.

(c) Australia and Vietnam recently signed an Enhanced Engagement Agreement aimed at further strengthening their bilateral relations.

(d) Australian exports of agricultural products to Vietnam has grown 150% over the past two years.

(e) Australia is considered a pioneering investor in Vietnam. For instance, ANZ Bank is the first Australian bank that set up operations in the country.

(f) As Vietnam moves up the value chain, Australia’s investment has shifted to the services, education, energy and energy transition

(g) Vietnam offers vast business opportunities given its consistently strong economic growth of 7-7.5% economic growth since the country opened up in 1990.

(h) However, there remain some structural barriers. For instance, many enterprises are still state-owned, thereby posing problems in pushing for needed reforms.

(i) Vietnam offers vast potentials for investments in offshore wind and solar energy in which it has shown great track record for growth.

(j) Vietnam offers the advantage of having an integrated investment policy, promoting double dividend of both quantity and quality investments.

(k) Vietnam has good investment potential for Australia in sectors such as food and agricultural products, wine, energy, health care, skilling and higher education, technical and vocational education as well as in activities such as the modernization of the Vietnamese government, establishment of smart cities (transportation and power), and possibly impact investing.

(l) Having a good local partner will work to the advantage of foreign investors, who should therefore consider going into joint ventures. It is also important for investors to conduct due diligence.

(m) There are still some sectors where investments may pose some issues, such as investments in security-related industries where regulations are unclear or not fully supported. For equity investment, Vietnam is still considered a frontier market, given its underdeveloped and unclear regulatory environment. There are also some industries with equity limitation for foreign ownership.

At the conclusion of the meeting, President McMullin and Mr. Tattersall exchanged tokens of appreciation for the opportunity of information sharing on the extent of Australian presence and activities in Vietnam to help improve bilateral relations between the two countries.

The complete report of the CACCI Presidential Visit to Vietnam can be read HERE.