Vietnammms FDI Attraction Gears up

 

In particular, the country licensed 705 fresh projects with a combined registered investment capital of US$4.7 billion, up 7 per cent terns of project volume and 60.1 per cent in registered capital value. Industry and construction sector drew 64.9 per cent of the total registered capital.

 

The average size of a project in the 10-month period is US$6.7 million. The large investment projects include Intel Products Vietnam with US$605 million, Tycoons Worldwide Steel Vietnam with US$556 million, T.H.T Development Co. Ltd with US$314 million and Winvest Investment Vietnam with US$300 million.

 

In October, 88 projects raised investment capital by US$405 million, raising the total increased capital to US$1.706 billion in the January-October period, 4.7 per cent in terms of project volume and 6.5 per cent in capital value against the same period of last year.

 

Several large projects licensed for investment capital increase include Bach Ma Pottery Co. Ltd with additional US$150 million, Ching Luh Vietnam Shoes Co. Ltd with US$98 million, VMEP Co. with US$93.6 million, Canon Vietnam with US$70 million, Hung Nghiep Formosa Co. Ltd with US$66.434 million and Panasonic Vietnam (Holding Company) with US$55.5 million.

 

In the 10 months, the disbursed investment capital is quite high. Foreign investors disbursed US$3.1 billion in the January-October period, registering an on-year increase of 8.4 per cent and fulfilling 84.4 per cent of the annual target of US$3.7 billion. With this result, the Foreign Investment Department pins hoped on realising this year’s US$3.7 billion FDI capital disbursement target.

 

Also in the first 10 months of this year, FDI reported estimated revenues of US$25.1 billion, up 31.5 year on year, including US$12.4 billion from export (exclusive of crude oil), up 38.7 per cent.

 

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest FDI destination. The city keeps 26.9 per cent of projects and 24.1 per cent of registered investment capital of the country. Binh Duong ranked second with 21.7 per cent of projects and 13.9 per cent of investment value, followed by Hanoi with 12.6 per cent of projects and 11.1 per cent of registered investment capital.

 

Among 37 countries and territories investing into Vietnam, Hong Kong is the largest investor with 17.4 per cent of total new capital, followed by South Korea with 16.1 per cent and the United States with 13.3 per cent. However, if investment through third countries is counted, the very US is the largest investor.

Mr. Pham Huu Thang, Director of Foreign Investment Department, said the most favourable condition is Vietnam is on the lens of foreign investors and is highly appreciated by foreign investors. The EU, South Korea, Taiwan and the US are now the largest investors in Vietnam and they want to expand investment in Vietnam. Especially, the Vietnamese Prime Minister’s visit to Japan has stirred the Japanese investment wave into Vietnam. Japanese leaders pledged and expressed determination to boost Japanese investment into Vietnam in the coming time and shift Japanese investment from other localities to Vietnam.

 

The Foreign Investment Department said the investment promotion activities will be focused on major investors such as Japan, Taiwan and the US from now until the year’s end. Particularly, the department will continue organising the “Vietnam Days in foreign countries.” Notably, the Vietnam-China Investment Forum in Nanning City of China in early November 2006 will attract the attendance of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

 

In Vietnam, the successful organisation of conferences and seminars prior to the APEC Summit is also a good chance to promote investment. Especially, leaders of APEC economies and hundreds of international giant firms will be present at APEC-related events. At present, the Ministry of Planning and Investment also proposed the Prime Minister to ratify and issue the lists of projects calling for foreign investment in the 2006-2010 period and urged local governments to check and publicize foreign investment portfolio with clear and transparent criteria for easy selection of investors.

 

Largest investors in 10 months of 2006
(As of Oct 20, 2006)
Ord.	Investors	Number of projects	Total investment capital	Legal capital
1	Hong Kong, China	17	833,506,430	293,238,342
2	The Republic of Korea	180	770,353,097	301,030,279
3	The US	45	635,562,368	439,568,090
4	Cayman Islands	2	576,000,000	319,000,000
5	Japan	115	556,379,536	286,090,353
6	British Virgin Islands	16	319,828,874	78,434,360
7	Singapore	42	223,618,434	78,781,030
8	Chinese Taipei	103	176,836,756	105,824,068
9	Netherlands	11	90,908,000	38,174,900
10	India	5	77,900,000	74,470,000
Total		705	4,779,240,545	2,219,153,507
Source: Foreign Investment Department - Ministry of Planning and Investment