Investing 7
January 3-9, 2022 l www.vir.com.vn
Investors reinforce trust in Vietnam
Efforts by several localities in
Vietnam in boosting on-spot
investment promotion mod-
els are reinforcing inves-
tors’ trust and driving them
to both fund newly-regis-
tered projects and expand
their operations. Kim Hara
reports.
T
he latest statistics pub-
lished by the Foreign In-
vestment Agency (FIA)
under the Ministry of
Planning and Investment showed
that the northern city of Haiphong
attracted the largest foreign-invest-
ed capital in 2021 at $5.26 billion,
making up 16.9 per cent of regis-
tered capital inflow to the country
and 3.5-fold higher than the figure
of 2020. The added capital in the
city was $2.73 billion, $2.15 bil-
lion of which comes from the two
ventures from LG Display Vietnam
Haiphong Co., Ltd. The promising
figures are a result of breakthrough
reformation in administrative pro-
cedures in the city.
At LG Display Haiphong, it
took only five days to grant the
investment certificate for the first
adjustment with a capital addition
of $750 million and three days to
approve the second adjustment of
$1.4 billion.
Nguyen Van Tung, Chairman
of Haiphong People’s Committee
said, “When the pandemic broke
out, on-spot investment promotion
was taken advantage of thoroughly
via organising online meetings to
connect with investors and focusing
on supporting enterprises during the
process from completing the proce-
dures to operating the factories.”
Such localities as Long An, Binh
Duong, and Ho Chi Minh City are
in the top five destinations attract-
ing the largest foreign investment
capital inflows in the country. Binh
Duong held over 20 online invest-
ment promotion meetings in 2021,
with one particular highlight being
the signing ceremony between Viet-
nam Singapore Industrial Park and
Danish toy producer LEGO Group.
The latter will invest over $1 billion
VAN DUC PHU
Senior expert
Investment Promotion Centre
North Vietnam
In 2021, hundreds of investment
promotion conferences took place
online and offline. To enhance the
efficiency of these promotion activi-
ties, every locality should improve in
the provincial competitiveness index
first by simplifying administrative
procedures, facilitating investors to
do paperworks, develop their proj-
ects, recruit employees, export and
import, and conduct tax obiligations.
Human resources in every locality
should be enhanced by establishing
Registered FDI inflows in some localities during 2017-2021
3.74
4.36
1.5
3.6 8.3
(Unit: $ billion)
8.45
5.95
7.52
6.5
2.5
Hanoi Ho Chi
Minh City
2017
in constructing its first-ever carbon
neutral factory, including invest-
ment in solar energy on a 44-hect-
are site in this southern province.
Holding dialogues
The success of the business com-
munity is backed up by local gover-
nance. Kim Huat Ooi, vice president
of Intel Products Vietnam’s (IPV)
manufacturing and operations and
its general manager, said, “IPV is an
important part of Intel’s manufactur-
ing worldwide, and we will continue
to invest in our local operations. Last
year marked the 15th anniversary of
IPV, and we are extremely pleased
with the progress we have made in
Vietnam so far, which is contributed
significantly by the support of local
authorities.”
The company has generated $60
billion of export value since 2010.
At the end of November 2021, IPV
generated an export value of $11.8
billion. In 2020 alone, IPV exported
$13.1 billion, making up about 70
per cent of the total export turnover
of the Saigon Hi-tech Park where it
is located, and 29 per cent of Viet-
nam’s total export turnover in elec-
tronic components and accessories;
high-quality vocational institutions.
Localities should identify their
own advantages in combination with
investment attraction policies and in-
centives to connect proper investors,
and improve the performance of in-
vestment promotion.
Additionally, all local authori-
ties should help investors when they
arrive and remove obstacles of on-
going projects to welcome them in
expanding their facilities. We see that
despite the pandemic, additional for-
eign direct investment into Vietnam
in recent years is still rising, although
newly-registered and share purchases
are not as high as in previous years.
2.13 5.26
1.9
3.4 1.5
2.3 1.38
3.1
2.8
0.9
Binh Haiphong Dong Nai Bac Ninh
Duong
2018
and 30 per cent of Ho Chi Minh
City’s total export value.
Every November, Ho Chi Minh
City authorities organise meetings
and dialogues with foreign-invest-
ed enterprises in the city to remove
troubles that they are struggling
with, especially in administrative
procedures, goods circulation, im-
port and export, and legal policies.
“Around 90 per cent of obstacles
have already been overcome, while
the remaining are being looked at
by higher-level authorities,” said
Cao Thi Phi Van, deputy director of
the Investment and Trade Promo-
tion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City.
During the pandemic, digital
transformation has been applied
widely to strengthen transactions
and trade promotion, accepting elec-
tronic invoices and documents for
customs clearance. Besides this, the
compliance inspection and assess-
ment for businesses with no signs
of violations have been suspended
temporarily to facilitate enterprises.
Localities with a moderate posi-
tion are also making efforts to cre-
ate a vigorous change in attracting
capital inflows. The north-central
province of Thanh Hoa is delving
Isao Matsui
General director
Nghi Son Cement Co., Ltd
In November 2021, the company
proposed to receive solutions for the
failure of the drainage system sur-
rounding our plant, which impacts
directly on the plant’s operation.
We were impressed when Thanh
Hoa authorities issued specific ex-
planations and solutions for the un-
expected incident via approving de-
velopment of a new drainage system
with the total capital of $4.3 million.
The province has also supported the
company in recruiting engineers.
1.36 1.66
0.9
2.14 1.58
0.93
1.46 1.24
3.4
1.76
2019 2020
into investment promotion via estab-
lishing the Japan Desk Thanh Hoa,
managed by Thanh Hoa Investment
Trade and Tourism Promotion Agen-
cy. The desk focuses on supporting
Japanese companies to secure vac-
cines for experts and deal with prob-
lems relating to the entry of experts
and skilled workers, as well as em-
ployee recruitment.
“After listening to the diffi-
culties and proposals of Japanese
enterprises, the desk immediately
started working with each business
and state agency to thoroughly re-
solve their problems, so that they
can operate smoothly,” said Hoang
Si Tuan, deputy director of Thanh
Hoa Investment, Trade and Tourism
Promotion Agency and head of the
Japan Desk Thanh Hoa.
“Accompanying enterprises
during the investment and opera-
tion will help reinforce investors’
trust in the province’s investment
environment, creating a founda-
tion for their expansion and rep-
utation for calling new investors,”
Tuan said.
Offering potential
Thanks to the desk’s influence, a
Nakamura Ryoji
CEO
Nghi Son Refinery
and Petrochemical Llc.
We are grateful for the support of
Thanh Hoa People’s Committee
and the Japan Desk in particular in
creating favourable conditions for
the entry of foreign experts hold-
ing work permits and foreign ex-
perts looking to enter the province
to work for a short time to handle
problems at factories.
The foreign experts play a cru-
cial role in ensuring the plant’s
stable operation and the demand
3.84
1.3
0.8 0.8
0.7
0.9
1.1
0.5
0.86 0.54
Long An Bac Giang
2021
compromise was reached so that it
takes only five working days to ap-
prove an entry file for a foreign expert
and his family members. Regarding
foreign experts who hold work per-
mits, Thanh Hoa Department of For-
eign Affairs will submit the dossiers
to the People’s Committee for ap-
proval without requiring an opinion
from other departments. This is much
faster than elsewhere.
Yashiro Hiroki, senior advisor of
the FIA said, “Since the pandemic
emerged, many Japanese companies
suffered losses, but still trust Viet-
nam’s investment environment and
the opportunities here. Seeing the
desk’s support for enterprises, I am
also happy to recommend the prov-
ince to other Japanese businesses,
who are looking to invest overseas.”
According to the FIA, as of
December 20, Vietnam wooed
$31.15 billion in foreign invest-
ment capital, up 9.2 per cent on-
year. There were 1,738 newly-reg-
istered projects registered at over
$15.2 billion, up $4.2 per cent on-
year. Meanwhile, there were 985
added-capital projects with an ad-
justed capital sum of $9 billion, up
40.5 per cent on-year.n
for foreign experts is also large.
Thanks to the support, our experts
not only have priority on approv-
ing the dossiers, but it also short-
ens the time for isolation.
In 2020, the province asked
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh,
relevant ministries, and central
agencies to create favourable con-
ditions for 104 foreign experts
to enter the country in order to
change the catalyst at the plant.
Besides that, in the first quarter of
2021, another 97 foreign experts
were allowed to enter the province
while ensuring disease prevention
and control.n