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Firms eye overseas services
Vietnamese businesses have shifted their overseas investment projects to the services sector and are investigating new potential markets.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), among the 38 overseas investment projects capitalised at US$170 million in the first four months of this year, many were focused on construction, online games, trade centres and restaurants, investment consultancy services and real estate instead of agriculture, mining and industrial tree-planting as previously.
This is a big difference in the overseas investment trend for Vietnamese businesses compared to previous years.
The shift in investment flows to the services sector is clearly seen in the Cambodian and Lao markets, which attracted the largest investment from Vietnamese enterprises. This year, Cambodia has become home to the two largest Vietnamese-invested projects, including a reforestation project by the Duc Nhan Joint Stock Company, with the other being the establishment of a branch of the Viet Nam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
In addition, memoranda of understanding in the fields of banking, telecommunications and trade centre business were signed by Vietnamese and Myanmar partners during Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's visit early this month.
Besides traditional markets, Viet Nam's overseas investment projects can also be found in countries and territories that are major investors in Viet Nam, including Japan, the US, the Republic of Korea and Singapore. The US market is also emerging with nine projects, mainly focused on real estate, hotels, tourism and seafood processing.
According to several MPI experts, although the of almost all projects in the services sector is small – around $1 million – the possibility of service exports through bidding, purchase and merger activities is opening up opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to enter deeper and reap higher added values in some foreign markets.
In the next 5-10 years, there will be a boom in Vietnamese-invested projects in both new markets and traditional destinations, they have forecast.
MPI's statistics showed, in 2009, Viet Nam's total overseas investment capital reached a record of $7.73 billion, spreading over 51 countries and territories worldwide.
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