Bangkok--20 Jun--KASIKORNBANK
KASIKORNBANK (KBank) partners with the Agency for Enterprise Development (AED) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) of Vietnam to promote the potential of Vietnamese SMEs in response to the bilateral trade and investment policies of the two countries. Both parties expect that, given the enhanced potential of SMEs, the value of bilateral trade will rise more than 30 percent to reach USD20 billion in 2020.
According to Mr. Pipit Aneaknithi, KBank President, creation of service network in the AEC+3 nations is one of the key strategies of KBank. Such network is aimed at supporting Thai corporations and SMEs to gain a foothold in potential markets in the region. After the AEC inauguration, Vietnam has become an important target of Thai and foreign investors, given its young workforce with a self-driven attitude, abundant raw materials and promising market potential affirmed by a large population of 90 million persons. In 2017, Thailand was Vietnam's top trade partner in ASEAN, recording total bilateral trade value of USD15.11 billion, or 30.5 percent of total trade between Vietnam and ASEAN. Meanwhile, FDI from Thailand amounted to USD8.5 billion, or the ninth largest amount in the total FDI of USD317 billion. Furthermore, M&A deals concluded by Thai businesses totaled over USD7 billion, all of which were KBank customers in the sectors of retail trade, petrochemicals, real estate, hotels, raw materials and construction materials, and food and beverages. Those records mirror considerable interest of Thai businesses toward the Vietnamese market.
KBank and AED have thus prepared a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote SME Internationalization while also expanding trade and investment opportunities for Thailand and Vietnam through cooperative efforts across all dimensions for sustainable development. KBank will apply its experience and expertise in creating and developing stronger SMEs in Thailand to upgrade this collaboration in order to boost bilateral trade between the two countries from USD15.11 billion in 2017 to USD20 billion in 2020, growing more than 30 percent.
Mr. Pipit added that KBank's Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh Representative Offices are tasked with enhancing liquidity for our Thai customers wishing to tap into the Vietnamese market for trade and investment purposes, as well as our Chinese, Japanese and South Korean clients wanting to expand their businesses in Vietnam. Our two Representative Offices here are well equipped to offer advisory services to Vietnamese SMEs that are part the supply chains of KBank's customers. In addition, KBank is planning to upgrade the status of these Representative Offices to a foreign bank branch later on. Once achieved, KBank will have a greater role in offering services and supporting Vietnamese SMEs ahead.