FDI promotion to get extra momentum

source : PetroVietnam

After investment liaison offices were set up in Vietnam’s strategic markets such as the US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, the country has seen remarkable improvements in inbound investment promotion activities.

However, boosting investment efficiency closer cooperation between these overseas liaison offices and Vietnamese localities is seen as essential.

“When foreign-based liaison offices operated unilaterally, they could not bring expected results,” said the head of investment at Japan-based Vietnamese Embassy Le Huu Quang Huy.

He said promoting investment was a hard task requiring concrete strategies and close coordination among relevant parties to catch the latest investment trends.

US-based San Francisco investment liaison office representative Giang Thanh Tung said it was important to present fresh investment wish-lists as many projects seeking investment were for 2006-2010.

He said promoting investment should be based on particular business areas and key projects and targeted selected partners.

Investment counselor under South Korea-based Vietnam Embassy Nguyen Thi Minh Hien said investment promotion staff would help bring investors to Vietnam.

She said Bac Ninh province had posted major achievements in attracting foreign investments and won big projects in the recent years and that was partly because the province authorities supported investors’ requirements.

Hien said many Korean investors wanted to form joint ventures, particularly in manufacturing fields to do business in Vietnam.

“We want a list of Vietnamese companies classified based on economic sectors and fields to help our partners seek appropriate local business counterparts,” she said.

Representatives from overseas investment liaison offices also suggested not to organise investment promotion workshops in a massive manner which were very costly and produced little results.

“To woo big groups with finance and technology to Vietnam, a careful preparation is needed, including offering special investment incentives,” said Tung.