Vietnam, RoK seek stronger investment, innovation partnership

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong addresses the event (Photo: VNA)

HCM City – Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) sought ways to improve the efficiency of their partnership in investment and innovation during a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on June 17.

According to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong, despite complicated world situation, Vietnam still enjoyed good socio-economic outcomes in the first five months of this year.

Particularly, in the period, 7.7 billion USD of foreign investment was disbursed, up 7.8 percent year on year, showing foreign investors’ high demand of expanding business in Vietnam, he said. Meanwhile, bright signs were seen in business and production activities as well as industrial production, he added.

He attributed the results to the improved investment environment of Vietnam and the country’s advantages in many fields, as well as the stable socio-political and macro-economic situation, with average annual growth of 6-7 percent in the recent two decades.

Dong underlined that Vietnam considers science-technology and innovation as a motivation for economic growth towards the target of a high-income country in 2045.

Vietnam is calling for foreign-invested projects with high technology and innovation, which can help domestic firms engage deeper in value chains, contributing to promoting digital transformation and sustainable development of Vietnam, he stressed.

The official added that Vietnam also encourages foreign investors and financial institutions to conduct projects to develop the infrastructure system through the public-private partnership (PPP) format.

The RoK is currently the largest investor of Vietnam with 9,288 underway projects worth over 79 billion USD, accounting for 18.5 percent of total FDI in Vietnam. Korean investors have been present in 59 out of 63 Vietnamese localities, focusing on areas of processing, manufacturing, electronics, high technology, logistics and construction.

Deputy Minister Dong said that Vietnam is working hard to reform administrative procedures to make it easier for investment activities, while preparing itself for innovation investments from outside, especially from the RoK.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment will continue to accompany investors and localities during the process, he pledged.

Lim Hankyu, Vice President of the Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation (KIND), an organisation specialising on supporting PPP projects abroad, said that Vietnam and the RoK see high potential to promote PPP in transport infrastructure projects.

He suggested Vietnam optimise ODA-funded programmes and PPP projects through Government-to-Government (G2G) partnership, making full use of ODA to strengthen infrastructure connection and using part of the infrastructure system to increase feasibility of large-scale projects.

At the conference, representatives from some localities have also introduced their investment potential to foreign investors, including those from the RoK.