|
Recovery to spark influx of foreign firms
The number of foreign companies moving to Viet Nam to seek business opportunities is likely to increase as the national economy shows signs of recovery, business leaders have said.
The upward trend was seen by the visit to Ha Noi last week by 16 South Korean businesses as part of the programme to work with the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to promote trade and investment between the two countries.
Louis Park, head of the South Korean delegation, said Viet Nam’s population of 80 million, its rich raw materials and young workforce made it an attractive business destination, the Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review) reports.
Souh Korean investors are targeting areas of light industry, high-tech industry and consumer goods. South Korea is one of Viet Nam’s largest investors, with 21,500 projects and a total registered capital of nearly US$19 billion.
A recent survey by AT Kearney, a global management consulting firm, showed that Viet Nam was among the top 10 of 50 countries and territories most attractive to foreign investors.
Norbert Jorak, CEO of AT Kearney Global Business, said Viet Nam would remain a promising investment destination, particularly if more preferential investment policies involving administrative procedures, tax and land-use were enacted.
Phan Huu Thang, head of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency, said many companies from the EU had come to Viet Nam this year to survey business opportunities.
Last week, 27 French companies toured Viet Nam to discuss trade and investment with local partners.
Thang said he had recently returned from a working tour to Switzerland and realised that Swiss investors and businesses were interested in doing business in Viet Nam. In the first five months of this year, US companies topped the list of foreign investors in terms of registered capital with more than $4.3 billion.
US firms are followed by those from South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.
Foreign direct investment in the first five months of the year was $6.68 billion, 76 per cent lower than the same period last year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency.
In a related matter, Nestle Company has opened a plant that produces monosodium glutamate in Bien Hoa 2 Industrial Zone in southern Dong Nai Province.
The $5 million plant’s products will be sold in the domestic market and exported to Cambodia and the Philippines.
The company also announced that La Vie Co, a joint-venture between Nestle and Viet Nam’s partner, invested $6 million to double the production capacity of its water production plants in southern Long An Province.
vietnamnews
|
