Hanoi vowing to support enterprises out of mire

Nguyen Manh Quyen, Deputy Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee, addressed the talks

On November 6, Hanoi Promotion Agency (HPA) coordinated with some departments and agencies in the city to hold a dialogue between Hanoi People’s Committee and domestic companies to help them deal with their difficulties. At the event, representatives of 10 associations and companies expressed their issues and offered solutions.

Chairman of the Board of Directors at Sunhouse Group, Nguyen Xuan Phu, said that the city needs to speed up the procedures for land allocation for enterprises. The company is currently negotiating to acquire a number of businesses in Quoc Oai district – however, the company faces numerous barriers to implement the deals and construction, as well as expand investment scale. Thus, the company is looking for more support from the authorities.

“The city should pay attention to solutions in reforming administrative procedures, such as digitalising systems to handle administrative procedures so that businesses can track them conveniently,” Phu said.

The other representatives offered similar proposals to reform administrative procedures to save time and costs for businesses. The municipal people’s committee has organised dialogues with both domestic and international companies a few weeks previously to discuss the same problems. There, representatives of embassies, international organisations, business associations, and foreign-invested enterprises focused discussions on reduction of taxes, vaccination programmes, extensions for social insurance payments, and travel between cities and provinces, as well as work permits for non-national labourers and other experts.

Dinh Tien Dung, Secretary of Hanoi Party Committee, said the city has been trying its best to take the correct measures to control COVID-19 as soon as possible. At the same time, the city is focusing on supporting businesses and overseas investors to restore production and business.

“Hanoi respects and protects the legitimate rights and interests of investors, and ensures the harmonisation of interests between the state, investors, and employees,” Dung said.

Dung added that the city will issue and implement a new recovery plan imminently. The plan is to develop the city’s economy in association with the prevention, control, and control of the pandemic, as well as restore production and business in industrial zones and clusters.

After the discussions, the leadership of Hanoi directly worked with those involved in the $4.2-billion North Hanoi Smart City project, which is funded through a joint venture between Vietnamese developer BRG Group and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation.

BRG chairwoman Nguyen Thi Nga said, “Our operations were impacted by the pandemic but it is lucky that the company has received the companionship of the authorities.”

Hanoi’s efforts to create more favourable conditions to attract potential investors into doing business in the capital are a great motivation for enterprises and investors to maintain operations.

In the first 10 months of 2021, the city wooed $1.2 billion in foreign-invested capital, including $196.2 million in 256 newly-registered projects and $506.6 million of added capital to 92 existing projects. The remaining capital was poured into 336 capital contributions and stake purchase deals. The foreign-invested capital focuses on sectors such as industry, processing and manufacturing, construction, real estate, and services.

Regarding foreign-invested enterprises’ commitment to invest long-term in Vietnam and Hanoi in particular, Samsung Vietnam general director Choi Joo Ho said that they will continue to strictly implement pandemic prevention and control measures set by the government and Samsung Group, thus completing the twin target of ensuring safety for the company and maintaining production stability while fulfilling its export goals. The group will also strengthen cooperation with domestic enterprises and take part in public infrastructure projects.

To date, the city has attracted 6,625 foreign-invested projects with total registered capital of $48.7 billion. In 2018-2019, Hanoi was the top destination for foreign investment in the country with total registered capital of $7.5 billion and $8.67 billion, respectively. In 2020, the city ranked third, luring in $3.83 billion.

Nearly 20,000 companies were newly established between January and October this year, with total registered capital of nearly $12 billion.

Along with measures to prevent and control the pandemic, the city has issued several programmes to support businesses and locals in line with the government’s policies. In particular, the city supported 1.82 million employees and employers with funds of over $43 million. The city has also exempted and reduced taxes and extended payment schedules worth over $980 million, benefiting 38,000 businesses.