FIA and EY Vietnam sign MoU on foreign investment attraction to Vietnam

Tran Quoc Phuong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment (middle) witnessed the signing ceremony between EY Vietnam and FIA

The MoU is aimed to promote investment opportunities for investors, including Ernst & Young (EY) clients across the globe, paving the way for new and expanded investments in Vietnam.

Under the MoU, the agency (FIA) will provide EY Vietnam with updated information on directions and policies to draw investment into Vietnam. The agency will also assist investors introduced by EY Vietnam to conduct research and implement business-investment procedures; endorse, resolve, or reflect the investors’ recommendations to the relevant authorities.

On the other hand, EY Vietnam will introduce and recommend potential investors who are EY clients globally to invest in Vietnam. EY may coordinate with FIA to organise seminars, conferences, and round-table discussions for investors introduced by EY, depending on the scale and features of each event.

Given its professional experience and global network, EY Vietnam can understand the needs and concerns of its clients, especially those from Japan and South Korea, which have the largest foreign investment value realised in Vietnam.

The signing of MoU attracting investment capital flow from South Korea

The EY Capital Confidence Barometer survey conducted in early 2020 indicated that 74 per cent of Japanese companies interviewed will likely change the set-up of their supply chain after COVID-19. Therefore, this could be a good opportunity for the Vietnamese government to attract investment arising from that trend.

Implementing the MoU, EY Vietnam will also keep FIA well informed of trading and investment trends regionally and globally; support FIA in conducting detailed and strategic research in order to evaluate opportunities, effective investment models, solutions, and best practices for Vietnam.

The MoU was signed in the context that Vietnam has favourable conditions to engage international investors. As a result of the negative impacts triggered by COVID-19 and trade tensions among substantial countries and territories, multinational corporations are accelerating the restructuring of their global value chain while seeking to reduce dependence on a single market.

“Vietnam will actively and selectively attract foreign investment, taking high quality, efficiency, modern technology, and environmental protection as the key benchmarks,” said Tran Quoc Phuong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment. "Vietnam also prioritises advanced technology and green projects, with high value-added components, connecting with global production and supply chains.”

Tran Dinh Cuong, country managing partner at EY Vietnam (middle), at the signing ceremony

“With our profound insights and expertise on investment megatrends in combination with the EY global network, EY Vietnam would be delighted to assist investors who are EY clients globally to make new investments or expand their investments in Vietnam,” Tran Dinh Cuong, country managing partner, EY Vietnam said.

“We are committed to supporting multinational conglomerates and high-tech firms to gain a thorough understanding of the local business environment, incentive policies, promoted sectors and areas, leading to an increment of both foreign direct and indirect investment,” Cuong noted.

“The supporting industry from countries like Japan and South Korea is one of the fields we would like to tap into because the domestic assembling rate of the sector is quite low compared to some countries in the region,” said Do Nhat Hoang, general director of FIA. “To create favourable conditions for businesses who want to invest or expand their footprint in Vietnam, the Vietnamese government has established a task force aimed at solving every hurdle they are facing.”

By the end of September 2020, Vietnam had 32,658 valid foreign investment projects with a total registered capital of $381.5 billion. Aggregated realised capital of these projects is estimated at $225.8 billion, equivalent to 59.1 per cent of the total legitimately registered investment capital, citing data from FIA.