Vietnam M&A Forum 2020 - “Upsurging in the new normal”


By Site Admin | Jan 6, 2021
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On November 24th, 2020 the Vietnam M&A Forum 2020 was held at the GEM Palace in Ho Chi Minh City, two months behind schedule due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. This event was jointly organized by Vietnam Investment Review (VIR) and AVM Vietnam, while the country is trying to overcome the global economic crisis caused by COVID-19, and make the most of the new investment trends of the region and the globe.

This year’s Forum has welcomed 500 representatives from the business community as well as domestic and international investment funds to join discussions. With the theme of “Upsurging in the new normal”, the Vietnam M&A Forum 2020 focused on M&A opportunities in the “new normal” period while Vietnam is expected to benefit from the shift in foreign direct investment flows from large but unsafe markets to the country and from the free trade agreements that Vietnam has signed, such as EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), or the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

In a report released on October 27, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed that global foreign direct investment flows in the first half of 2020 decreased by 49 per cent compared to last year, far below the initial estimates. Due to lockdowns happening all around the world, in the first half of 2020, FDI inflows into developed countries plunged 75 per cent compared to 2019 while FDI into developing countries slid by 16 per cent.

Nonetheless, the expectation for the Vietnam economy remains fairly positive thanks to the country’s timely response to the pandemic and the effort to reform the domestic investment and business climate. Over the previous years, Vietnam’s GDP growth was over 6 per cent, and this year it was over 2 per cent. The country is also an emerging investment spot in the region, not only because of affordable labor costs but also because of macroeconomic and political stability.

On the other hand, experts also shared their insight on how companies could overcome the harsh environment the year has offered up, how to execute successful M&A deals, and how emerging technology trends could reshape the landscape. Warrick Cleine, chairman and CEO of KPMG in Vietnam and Cambodia emphasized that “this the first time I’ve ever witnessed such strong market volatility sweeping across all sectors”. He argued that it would be hard to close an M&A deal before the end of various factors like the US presidential handover, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the general uncertainties in the global and domestic economy. Besides, M&A transactions can sometimes fail due to lack of cultural fit, so diversification in labor force is the key for the whole economy. Finally, in order to make Vietnam an attractive investment and M&A destination for international investors, digital platforms must be deployed and improved, including blockchain and other emerging trends.

Being the biggest annual event of M&A activities with many foreign guest speakers, Vietnam M&A Forum 2020 also gathered hundreds of talented and devoted interpreters and translators. The delivered interpretation was simultaneous interpretation (also known as real-time or cabin interpretation), the most difficult interpretation type (please explore other types of interpretation here). It requires high mental-processing ability and the utmost concentration to the speech. For the audiences to understand smoothly and capture all important points in the speaker’s speech, interpreters have to work intensely during the event. Hiring the right interpreters is, therefore, important for the successful execution of such kind of event.  Please click here to read our latest article on how to reserve a reliable and affordable interpreter for your business meeting, exhibition or seminar.

To better understand how simultaneous interpretation is performed, please refer to the video below in which the speech from Mr. Tran Quoc Phuong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment was interpret simultaneously between Vietnamese-English.

https://youtu.be/OvpfQFQBjaA

Freelensia is an online platform that offers a wide range of cabin interpreters with years of experiences in the M&A sector. Clients can choose the professional and most suitable ones for their events by signing up at https://www.freelensia.com/en/signup and choose from hundreds of interpreters’ listings.

 

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