Over the past time, Vietnam has pledged to improve its business environment to attract more foreign investment. The country has focused on the effective implementation of bilateral and multilateral commitment roadmaps on the way to the global integration.
Improving investment environment
Over the past years, representatives from big international organisations such as the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) and Japan highly appreciated the Vietnamese investment climate. The Vietnamese government has applied many measures to improve its education system, including expansion of vocational training schools to meet investors’ demand for labourers. Infrastructure development is among the local government’s top priorities. The Vietnamese government has actively mobilised different capital sources to build infrastructure for economic development.
The government has worked out an administrative reform programme which will be the nation’s key concern in the coming time. Currently, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has decentralised investment management in localities. This has created a competition between localities. With the same condition, cities and provinces which simplify administrative procedures will attract more investment.
Maintaining the position of being among 13 countries with the highest economic growth worldwide, Vietnam sees a big opportunity to attract investment and foreign human resources for its recovery prospect. Alain Cany, Vice Chairman of EuroCham in Vietnam said, the global economic slump has forced Vietnam to gather up its resources to overcome the bad impacts.
Vietnam needs to raise competitiveness
According to many investors, despite lots of advantages, Vietnam’s competitiveness remains low compared to regional countries. Some Vietnam’s outstanding weaknesses are high costs in maritime and transport services, poor infrastructure system and complicated management mechanism. Additionally, a remarkable number of local businesses’ products still fail to compete with foreign rivals’. The Vietnamese government has helped enterprises in a certain way to sharpen their product’s quality.
Since early this year, the Southeast Asian country has witnessed a sharp fall in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow. According to AmCham, hi-tech and big FDI projects often come to countries with the most favourable investment conditions. Therefore, investment environment is the decisive factor to attract FDI. The American agency also said that sustainable partnership plays a key role for attracting investment in Vietnam.
Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association Huynh Van Minh said, the Vietnamese government needs to strictly reform administrative procedures and improve carders’ knowledge. They must know what they are doing and how to help enterprises develop and particularly create a safe legal corridor for them. Alain Cany also noted that foreign companies often complain about Vietnams’ complicated administrative procedures and inconsistence between local concerned agencies.
Vietnam is on the way to integrate; thus, it has to experience a range of changes in the legal corridor and new regulations. Vietnam’s administrative reform will improve its business climate, serving as a driving force for the economic development.
Song Hong
Vietnamese
