French investors demonstrate interest in large-scale projects

French investors are expanding their investment portfolio in Vietnam-Photo: Le Toan

A source from Schneider Electric Group in Vietnam told VIR that this group would soon begin construction of a plant making hi-tech electronic products in Ho Chi Minh City’s Saigon Hi-Tech Park. This first phase, covering 12,000 square metres, is scheduled to be operational by late 2016. The second phase will likely be constructed after 2020.

According to the park’s authority, the plant’s total investment capital will be nearly $100 million. After completion, this 26,000sqm plant will be one of the group’s biggest manufacturing plants worldwide.

According to the French Embassy to Vietnam, the Schneider Electric investment is just one among many prospective French-invested projects in Vietnam.

“In particular, investment in infrastructures such as energy, transportation and green technologies could be higher, some companies have already significant investment projects in these fields,” the embassy’s first secretary Jean-Philippe Gavois told VIR.

Last week in Paris, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with leaders of many French groups hoping to invest into Vietnam. They include Electricity of France; Aéroports de Paris (ADP), Perenco, Technip France; and Accord.

According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), these groups informed Prime Minister Dung of their investment plans into Vietnam. ADP wants to engage in the construction of Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai. The company has worked with Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport on several previous occasions.

In another case, the French Agency for Development in Hanoi and the International Network branch of Electricity of France (EDF-IN) have signed two financial agreements that will optimise the investment planning of Electricity of Vietnam’s Hanoi Power Corporation and Northern Power Corporation.

Also in Paris last week, Deputy Prime Minister and MoFA Minister Pham Binh Minh met with the leaders of Thales Group, which is currently implementing projects to monitor coasts, roads, and satellites in Vietnam. Thales said it wanted to expand its investment portfolio in the country.

According to Minh, Vietnam’s government wants Thales to submit a long-term investment plan that would make use of Vietnam’s resources, while training Vietnamese experts and transferring technology to Vietnamese partners.

Last month, about 15 French groups came to Vietnam in search of investment opportunities in building urban infrastructure projects.

Etudes Créations et Informatique recently signed a deal with Vietnam’s V-ECOM on jointly conducting a project to develop transport solutions in Vietnam. This deal followed six months of negotiations.