The inner steel to build a better future

George Kobrossy

He tells VIR’s Song Ngoc that foreign-invested enterprises, including his, have actively been an integral part of, and increasingly contributing to, Vietnam’s socio-economic development strategies.

You are among only a few foreign investors in Vietnam given the VCCI’s reputable award this year. How do you feel?

I believe that for any entrepreneur to get this award, it is also the recognition for the company. I feel honoured that the Vietnamese government has granted us the award for the second time, which is the recognition for my efforts, the efforts of all Zamil Steel Vietnam’s people, a majority of whom are Vietnamese and the recognition for our company’s achievements in Vietnam and the whole region.

The year 2008 was great for Zamil Steel Vietnam as we achieved very high growth over the previous year. In 2009, despite the global crisis which hit businesses in Vietnam hard and affected foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the country, we still maintained targeted business plans.

The cores of our success here are innovating and improving quality and service to be more competitive, investing in new technologies and diversifying products, expanding domestic and overseas networks, strengthening core company cultures to maintain good team of human recourses and adapting to Vietnamese culture.

FDI inflows in Vietnam have reportedly slowed down since 2008. Apart from the matter of global crisis impacts, in your viewpoint, is Vietnam becoming less attractive to the international foreign investor community?

I believe that the foreign community’s confidence in Vietnam is still growing. Everyone should notice that the slow-down in the reported figures of FDI in Vietnam is not because of the confidence of foreign investors in the country, but it is because of the international economic crisis.

But it is practical if we measure Vietnam’s share of FDI inflows in comparison to other countries, then we can see that Vietnam still has a big share. This is really related to the growing confidence of foreign investors globally in Vietnam.

Many foreign manufacturers said that domestic and foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam still lack linkages in the supply chain due to a failure to satisfy the specific requirements. Do you agree?

The Vietnamese government has been successful in nurturing an attractive investment environment in the country, which also encourages many supply-chain related companies to operate here. Further to that, the  government can attract more upstream processing investment in which dependency on importing processed materials could be reduced.

The licences issued for steel mill investments in Vietnam recently, for example, are another positive sign for the steel industry as we can source some of our raw materials in Vietnamese market instead of importing from overseas.

With the improvement of infrastructure facilities in Vietnam, I am sure the gaps with the country’s supply chain will soon be closed and can later be developed into a more effective system beneficial to the business operators in the country and the region.

Enforcement of legal framework is said to be another bottle-neck for domestic and foreign investors here. What needs to be done by the Vietnamese government to address this challenge?

I should say that the Vietnamese government has already created favourable conditions for FDI inflows in the country. The political stability, smooth operation of authorities, improvement in procedure as well as continuous infrastructure development are the incentives of Vietnam.

We didn’t find any difficulties when approaching any government-concerned authorities. The most important thing is that the Vietnamese government spends its time meeting with foreign investors and listening to their requirements and it is committed to take timely actions to support foreign investors doing business here in Vietnam.

Another favourable condition and a major advantage for Vietnam is the Vietnamese culture, which is very important to Zamil Steel Vietnam. In Vietnam, people are very friendly, honest and hard working. We decided to choose Vietnam as a home for our operations in the South East Asia as we felt that we could integrate very easily in Vietnam and the Vietnamese community.