For the first time, Malaysian investors are finding the Vietnamese market as attractive as China’s, Khairi told an investment conference in HCM City at the end of April. Previously, Vietnam was considered the second-choice investment option behind China, he said. “Malaysian business people who left Vietnam 12 years ago have returned with determination and hope,” he said.

Companies from Malaysia began arriving in Vietnam in the 1990s but by 1997 many of them had left to seek better business opportunities in other countries.

Now, Malaysia is the second largest investor in Vietnam among Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. It’s also the eighth biggest investor overall with 55 projects underway, valued at more than US$14.5 billion.

Major Malaysian projects in Vietnam include the Lion Group’s $9.8 billion steel production plant in the central province of Ninh Thuan and Berjaya Land Corporation’s $3.5 billion real estate development in HCM City.