With major trade deals on the horizon, Vietnam has the potential to attract investment and generate new cross border business opportunities. Among these are: the CPTPP, EU-Vietnam FTA and Asean-Hong Kong FTA. However, additional regulatory reforms, continued domestic investment and improvements in manufacturing and labor standards are needed to fully capture the benefits from these and other trade agreements. Vietnam could be one of the major beneficiaries of the escalating US-China trade spat.

The country will be the prime beneficiary of increased cross-border investment in the Asia Pacific and already attracts the highest consistent growth rates of foreign direct investment among Asean nations. While the level of net intended investment into Vietnam is slightly down on last year, the net figure is six percentage points higher than in 2015, when Vietnam was seventh on the list of intended foreign investment nations in the Asia Pacific, behind the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia, which have all since dropped out of the top five.

Vietnam has been named by region’s leading business executives as the busiest territory for foreign investment in the coming year – ahead of China, the United States, Australia, Thailand and Indonesia. The country has had consistent positive growth over recent years.