The APEC Economic Leaders’ Week (AELW) in Da Nang from 6-11 November is the culmination of Viet Nam’s year-long hosting of APEC meetings.  Reporters from the DA NANG Newspaper recently interviewed representatives from some prestigious businesses, and enterprise associations, to collect their opinions about great opportunities that AELW could offer to the city, especially local businesses.

A representative (right) from the Russian Embassy in Ha Noi visiting the city-based Huong Que Processing and Manufacturing Import-Export Co

The Chairman of the Da Nang Start-up Council (DSC), Mr Vo Duy Khuong, remarked that, besides super small, small and medium-sized enterprises, start-up businesses in the Asia-Pacific region are playing an important role in boosting the progress of their region.

The forthcoming APEC summit week will offer a golden opportunity for the city to create a close link between the local start-up ecosystem with the global network. 

Chairman Khuong happily said that, DSC has already invited representatives from world-renown start-up giants, namely Facebook and Airbnb, to attend upcoming experience exchanges in Da Nang with Vietnamese start-ups, on the sidelines of AELW.

In a similar vein, experts from the Taipei-based AppWorks, the largest startup accelerator in Asia, will arrive in Da Nang for AELW to share their valuable start-up experience.

Within the framework of AELW, on 9 November, the Australian Embassy and the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology will jointly hold an event at the Da Nang Business Incubator in a bid to identify ways to promote the Viet Nam-Australia partnership. 

Ms Truong Thi Kim Anh, the Vice Director of the city branch of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) highly praised the upcoming APEC week for facilitating international investors to learn more about economic policies and investment potential in Viet Nam.  Through such a very important event, domestic businesses will grasp a chance to cooperate with their prestigious international partners.

On behalf of the Vietnamese business community, VCCI is scheduled to host the APEC CEO Summit 2017 in Da Nang between 8 and 11 November. 

Themed ‘Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future’, the Summit will bring together leaders from the world’s most dynamic economies, speakers from the world’s most influential institutions and corporations, and a total of over 800 senior business executives from across the Asia-Pacific region. 

The Summit aims at presenting a valuable opportunity for discussions that will bring about ingenious, innovative and sustainable solutions for APEC’s people and and its business-centred development.

The Standing Vice Chairman of the city’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Association (DANASME), Mr Nguyen Van Ly, highlighted the great significance of the APEC week during which world-renowned businesses are expected to seek investment opportunities in Da Nang, and Viet Nam as a whole.  Thanks to this,

Vietnamese businesses, and small and medium-sized enterprises in Da Nang in particular, would become important ‘satellite’ entities surrounding large-sized ones.

Mr Don Lam, the Co-Founder and CEO of the VinaCapital Group, the APEC week will offer a golden chance for Viet Nam to widely advertise its dynamic business community with a strong development aspirations and an ambition of deeper global cooperation.

VinaCapital Group will take the initiative to introduce Viet Nam’s stable socio-economic growth and numerous appealing investment opportunities in the APEC 2017 host country.

Mr Jens Ruebbert, the Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce (Eurocham), said that Eurocham has been working closely with the Da Nang authorities, the city branch of VCCI and other partners to find effective ways to enhance local business environment before the European Union-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) takes effect in early 2018.

Many European businesses now consider Central Viet Nam, especially Da Nang in particular, as an ideal investment destination.