Hanoi (VNA) - Grab’s acquisition of Uberopens the door for Vietnamese businesses to enter the ride-sharing market, saidKhuat Viet Hung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam National Safety TrafficCommittee.

Speaking at a seminar titled “Grab’s acquisition ofUber: What are the opportunities for Vietnamese companies?” held in Hanoi lastweek, Hung noted that Uber was unknown seven and eight years ago, and thatwhen Uber entered Vietnam, no one had heard of Grab.

“When there appears a ‘giant’ in the market, we oftenfeel anxious, but I think that Grab buying Uber is really an opportunity forVietnamese businesses,” he said.

Grab has officially announced that it has completedthe acquisition of Uber’s business in Southeast Asia. After the merger, Uberwill hold a 27.5 percent stake in Grab, while Uber’s CEO will join Grab’smanagement board.

Uber emailed an official announcement to all itscustomers about the transfer of the entire customer system in Vietnam to Grabbeginning on April 8 and recommended customers download the Grab application.

Grab’s success in Southeast Asia is a lively examplefor businesses in the region, including in Vietnam, Hung said.

"There are no opportunities without challenges,but I think the current chances are clearer now. The story of Grab reallyencourages the creativity of Vietnamese enterprises in conquering the localmarket and even reaching out to other countries," said Hung.

Nguyen Cong Hung, Chairman of the Hanoi Taxi Association,said that before entering Vietnam, Uber and Grab studied the country’s laws tofind loopholes to increase their advantages.

Grab and Uber used huge capital to take over themarket. Initially, they created applications to attract consumers with bigpromotional programmes, which traditional taxis could not afford because theyhave to pay higher taxes, said the chairman.

He also said that as soon as Uber and Grab arrived inVietnam, traditional taxis has learned the technology and created their owncar-hailing applications and acknowledged it is also the responsibility ofVietnamese traditional taxi businesses to meet competition with innovation.

The chairman said that the association has proposed tobuild a taxi booking centre of the Hanoi Taxi Association and is ordering asoftware company to design it.

This would be a common platform for all taxi firms in Hanoi,helping everyone who comes to Hanoi choose taxies depending on the brand orprice displayed.

The association wants to create equality and fairnessin business and the basis of evaluation is the quality of service, the chairmansaid.-VNA