Taiwanese businesses will benefit if Vietnam joins the TPP: envoy

From The China Post

Saigon –Taiwan’s representative to Vietnam, Huang Chih-peng, said Monday he hopes Vietnam will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade agreement soon as this will help the many Taiwanese businesses that plan to invest in the Southeast Asian country.

China Steel Corp’s cold rolling complex in Vietnam. (Photo courtesy of China Steel Corp)

Vietnam still has some economic issues to be resolved before it can enter the TPP, Huang said, at a ceremony that marked the completion of a project in Vietnam called China Steel Sumikin Vietnam Joint Stock Company (CSVC), a cold rolling complex funded by Taiwan’s China Steel Corp.

Huang said he hopes, however, that Vietnam will be able to join the TPP soon as this will open up enormous business opportunities for Taiwanese businesses wanting to invest there.

Currently, there are 50,000 Taiwanese enterprises with investments in Vietnam, mostly in the manufacturing, breeding and aquaculture, textile and tea-planting industries, Huang said.

Last year, Taiwan was the third largest investor in Vietnam and the biggest foreign employer of Vietnamese, with 1.4 million workers, Huang added.

Taiwan attaches great importance to foreign trade and investment, Huang said, noting that Taiwanese businesses made a huge exodus to Southeast Asia in the 1970s, to China in the 1980s and again to Southeast Asia in the late 1990s.

Vietnam a Top Choice for Investment

Among the Southeast Asian countries, Vietnam is the top choice for Taiwanese businesses, given its political stability, friendly people and rich resources, he said.

Read the full story from the China Post.