Vietnam's Consul-General in Hong Kong is encouraging local tycoons to 'think big' with investments in the booming economy as it enters a new stage of massive infrastructure development.
The Hong Kong SAR already ranks as the third-largest investor, ahead of both the United States and Japan, with 176 projects capitalised at US$3.2 billion.
However, Vietnam's top diplomat, Nguyen Dinh Bang, insisted that bigger opportunities abounded in long-term projects such as road-building, power plants and ports.
'Hong Kong investors often look for quick returns,' he said. Until now they had concentrated on the service sector - tourism, hotels, office development, restaurants and garment factories, cashing in on cheap labour.
'But investments in infrastructure are long-term and the sums of money involved are much higher - and in this area there has been little interest.' As a result, Hong Kong may soon slip down the investor rankings. Already lagging behind Singapore and Taiwan, the SAR is now being challenged by the United States and Japan.
'Both the US and Japan's confidence and interest in investing are warming up, as reflected by their huge increase in contracted investment in recent years,' says a new Hong Kong Trade Development Council report.
Vietnam's Industry Department added that opportunities in sectors with high and rapid profits were becoming 'saturated'. Even cheap labour was 'diminishing'.
