This year was the first time Vietnam has witnessed a fall in foreign direct investment (FDI) for the past five years. The country estimated a total pledged FDI of US$21.48 billion this year, down 70% from a year earlier, said the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
The Vietnam Economic Times has listed the country’s ten most outstanding events in FDI picture in 2009 as follows:
1. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had a dialogue with foreign investors at the Vietnam Business Forum held in Hong Kong On April 20. The forum connected Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, London, Geneva, Tokyo and Singapore, showed foreign investors’ interest in Vietnamese business environment.
2. Foreign investors are allowed to borrow loans from local banks in line with an agreement signed by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and Vietcombank in April.
3. Vietnam revoked licenses of many big FDI projects in 2009, including an US$11-billion petrochemical project by Singaporean SP Chemicals (SPC) and a US$500-million hotel project by Japanese Riviera Corporation.
4. The decentralization plan in licensing FDI projects has been set up to simplify procedures, but led to fierce local competition between localities. Provincial authorities even exceeded their rights set by the Ministry of Planning and Investment to offer incentives for foreign investors.
5. The roles of FDI projects remain limited in the development of the domestic industries. The failure in the local auto localization rate was an obvious evidence. Former Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen said that FDI projects have mostly focused on assembly industries using the cheap labor force of Vietnam.
6. The quality of laborers in the FDI sector should be further improved to meet the increasing demand of investors. The central province of Ha Tinh needs 20,000 workers every year for FDI projects and will require 119,000 laborers by 2015. However, in the 2001-2008 period, the province trained just 26,000 workers.
7. In April, the Ministry of Planning and Investment issued a decision to stipulate the functions, tasks and organization of the Foreign Investment Agency. One of the most important tasks of the agency is to draft strategy and set up programs and lists of projects calling for FDI.
8. Vietnam announced its policy on FDI attraction in 2009, with the focus on the areas of high-technology fields, supporting industries, farm produce processing and services which can bring high added value. The country will also prioritize investment in rural and remote areas.
9. The draft decree on cooperation with foreign partners in education has been completed to encourage investment in training information technology, telecommunication, e-commerce, precise mechanical, environment protection, agriculture, tourism and power
10. The Ministry of Planning and Investment said that it will implement the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in infrastructure investment for some projects funded by the World Bank. (vneconomy)
Vietnamese
