Vietnam will license large and important foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in the second half of this year in order to fulfil the yearly target of attracting US$6.5 billion of new registered capital, according to Nguyen Anh Tuan, Vice Head of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Department.
According to Tuan, the target is feasible and there have been optimistic signs in FDI attraction in Vietnam, as the country has began welcoming big corporations from the US, EU and Japan and some big projects in the fields of IT, electronics, and precision engineering have been submitted for quick approval.
He said FDI into Vietnam in the two recent months showed signs of decreasing because the country did not take full advantage of available opportunities to create a boom in FDI attraction. Thus, in the first half the country’s FDI capital was down 0.6 per cent against the same period last year to US$2.71 billion.
Total implemented FDI capital in the first half was over US$1.85 billion, up 17.7 per cent against the same period last year, but accounting for over 40 per cent of the yearly target.
In June, foreign-invested firms operating in Vietnam, excluding oil and gas firms, reported total revenues of US$2.65 billion, raising their total earnings to US$12.45 billion in the first half of 2006, up nearly 17 per cent on-year. They earned export revenues of US$6.64 billion in the first six months, up 30.8 per cent on-year, and contributed more than US$565 million to the State budget, up 16 per cent on-year.
State media said the Vietnamese government is preparing to announce a list of projects calling for foreign investment in the 2006-2010 period, set up investment promotion offices in some countries, and send more investment promotion missions to the US, EU and Japan.
Vietnam plans to have a policy to encourage private firms to invest in developing infrastructure, including building houses for sales and rent. The country will also ensure enough electricity for business and production activities, focus investment on raising the quality of seaport and telecom services, drawing up a reasonable salary policy to prevent strikes by workers, and opening the door to investors under its international commitments.
Labour, Pioneer
Vietnamese
