Vo Tan Thanh, vice president of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, speaks at the Southeast Asia Outbound Investment Forum in HCM City on March 28 (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) - Vietnamese companies should further invest in and trade with Myanmar,Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, which are members of the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations, heard a forum in Ho Chi Minh City on March 28.

According to Vo Tan Thanh, Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerceand Industry (VCCI), Thailand is Vietnam’s largest trading partner among ASEANcountries, with bilateral trade reaching over 17.5 billion VND in 2018, a year-on-yearincrease of 15 percent.

Vietnam’s trade with Cambodia,Laos and Myanmar also grew in 2018, he said at the Southeast Asia OutboundInvestment Forum.

Vietnam ran a trade deficit withThailand because it imported a lot of machinery and equipment, raw materialsfor domestic production and automobiles, he said.

In 2018, Thailand was the biggest source of automobiles for Vietnam, he added.

Vietnam’s exports to these markets include mobile phones and components,computers, electronic products and components, iron and steel, machinery andequipment, vehicles and spare parts, garment and textile products, crude oil,and gasoline.

As of last year, Thailand was the ninth largest investor in Vietnam out of 130countries and territories with 10.5 billion USD in 528 projects.

Laos ranked 52nd with 70 million USD, Cambodia was 56th with over 64 million USDand Myanmar, 99th with one project worth 800,000 USD.

Vietnamese companies haveinvested in all these countries, including nearly 26 million USD in Thailand.

They have invested over 3 billion USD in Cambodia to make the country among thefive largest foreign investors in there.

Vietnam was the seventh largest foreign investor in Myanmar with nearly 2billion USD in 70 projects.

Investment and trade ties between Vietnam and these countries remain short oftheir potential and they are making efforts to set this right.

Vietnam and Thailand for instance have set a target of increasing their tradeto 20 billion USD by 2020, while Vietnam and Laos target 10 percent growth intrade this year.

To provide local companies seeking to expand operations in Southe𝄹ast Asia withmore information about these markets, VCCI in collaboration with Tilleke &Gibbins, a leading Southeast Asian law firm, held the first Southeast AsiaOutbound Investment Forum.-VNA