Hanoi (VNA) – Australia is a choosy but promising market with largeconsumption capacity, Vice President of Australia-Vietnam Business Council CannLee has said.

He noted that penetrating this market is tough, but maintaining a foothold iseven more difficult.

Speaking at a recent Australia and Vietnam investment and trade expo in Hanoi,Lee said a delegation of 70 Australian businesses operating in real estate,finance, environment, mineral and hi-tech agriculture have arrived in Vietnamto seek cooperation opportunities with Vietnamese partners.

Vietnam is the second most attractive market in Southeast Asia to Australianfirms, only after Indonesia, due to Vietnam’s political stability and dynamicmarket, he noted.

Notably, the Vietnamese Government has devised incentives to supportenterprises seeking business opportunities in the country. 

Bilateral trade has increased in recent years after the two countries joined afree trade agreement signed between Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN in 2009.

In 2016 alone, two-way trade reached 5.26 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of6.5 percent, according to Vietnam Customs.

Vietnam exported 2.87 billion USD worth of goods to Australia while importing2.39 billion USD from the market.

As of May 2017, Australia ranked 19th among the total 119 countries andterritories investing in Vietnam with 404 projects worth nearly 1.9 billionUSD.

Andrew Martin, Managing Director at Moelis said the company recognised the hugeinvestment opportunities in real estate and finance in Vietnam due to thesectors’ stable growth.

Despite huge import demand, many Vietnamese staples have struggled to conquerthe Australian market, Lee said, with quality of goods the biggest difficultyfor Vietnamese firms.

Director of Hoang Lan Co. Ltd. Nguyen Thi Nga said businesses should followinternational standards to meet the requirements of consumers and improvecompetitiveness and improve the quality management system of factories.

She suggested Vietnamese firms invite experts to inspect the quality ofproducts and bring skilled Australian workers to Vietnam to increase thequality of products and popularise Vietnamese goods in the market.

Australian business representatives advised Vietnam to seek partners inAustralia to better understand the host’s law and market to enter the marketmore easily.-VNA