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| Production activities at the factory of Panasonic Life Solutions Vietnam Co., Ltd (Binh Duong). Photo: TL |
Continue to be an attractive destination
According to the Foreign Investment Agency (Ministry of Planning and Investment), in January 2023, the whole country attracted nearly USD 1.7 billion in FDI. FDI investors have poured capital into 32 provinces and cities across the country. The leading province in Bac Giang province, with a total registered capital of nearly USD 792 million, the second is Ho Chi Minh City, and the third is Dong Nai, followed by Tay Ninh, and Ba Ria – Vung Tau.
Ho Chi Minh City in the first month of 2023 had 50 foreign investment projects newly granted investment registration certificates with a total registered capital of more than USD 86.86 million. Moreover, 20 licensed projects from previous years adjusted their investment capital with additional capital of nearly ere 37.51 million. In addition, there are 139 cases where foreign investors carry out procedures to contribute capital, purchase shares, and purchase capital contributions of domestic enterprises with registered capital equivalent to USD 54.68 million. In general, the total newly granted foreign investment capital, additional investment capital and capital contribution share purchase, and capital contribution redemption reached more than USD 179.04 million, an increase of nearly 74% of total investment capital over the same period of the year 2022.
Similarly, Dong Nai also had an impressive start when attracting foreign capital inflows which continued to hold the top position with nearly USD 245 million in January 2023, mainly in the industrial sector. Eight new projects with a total registered capital of more than USD 45 million and 10 increased capital by nearly USD 200 million. Most of Korea, Japan, and Taiwan have new investment projects and capital increases. In addition, in Dong Nai province, there are many projects inviting FDI investors to participate with a total investment capital of nearly USD 10 billion. The transport and drainage infrastructure field alone is more than USD 6 billion; tourism is over USD 1 billion. The rest is the infrastructure of industrial zones, high-tech agriculture, trade and services, logistics, and real estate that need a large capital to implement projects.
In Binh Duong, in the first month of 2023, the whole province has attracted USD 0.8 million in FDI, of which the number of projects adjusted to increase capital is a project with a total capital of USD 0.6 million and 2 projects with capital contribution, share purchase project with total registered capital increased by USD 0.2 million. Accumulated up to now, the province has 4,086 foreign investment projects with a total capital of 39.7 billion USD. Industrial zones have 2,638 projects with a total capital of USD 27.6 billion; outside industrial zones, there are 1,448 projects with total capital of USD 12.1 billion.
The fact that investors continuously explore investment opportunities right from the beginning of 2023 shows that the Southeast region is still an attractive destination.
Improving the investment environment to welcome strong investors
Commenting on the investment attraction ability of the Southeast provinces, Mr. Watanabe Nobuhiro, Consul General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City, said that in the future, when the Bien Hoa – Vung Tau expressway, Ring Road 3, Ring Road Belt 4 is built, connecting infrastructure between provinces and cities in the Southern Key Economic Zone will be smooth. Therefore, at that time, the attractiveness of investment attraction of the Southeast provinces will be even higher.
Despite an impressive start and many opportunities to attract foreign capital, according to experts, in 2023, it is forecast that there will still be many difficulties affecting the attraction of domestic investment and FDI. In particular, problems related to procedures and unresolved land will also hinder how FDI enterprises plan to invest in this area.
Against that backdrop, to create a new attraction for FDI investment in 2023, many provinces in the Southeast region are continuing to focus on developing infrastructure, expanding industrial zones, improving the investment environment and attracting construction resources in a modern and synchronous direction to take advantage of opportunities to attract better, greener and smarter capital flows.
Regarding the orientation to attract FDI, Mr. Pham Tuan Anh, Deputy Head of the Department of External Economic Affairs, Department of Planning and Investment of Ho Chi Minh City, said that in the future, the strategy is not only limited to attracting direct FDI investment in the city, but also focus on attracting supply chains to the region, in which Ho Chi Minh City where is the important part of the supply chain are located such as: Headquarters, R&D centre, logistics centre, training centre, connection centre, support and direct production activities carried out in neighbouring localities.
In Binh Duong, VSIP III Industrial Park, with 1,000 hectares, is invested into a green industrial park. After investing in this IP, Binh Duong attracted a project from LEGO Group with an investment capital of USD 1.3 billion. In addition, the province is investing in Cay Truong Industrial Park, with an area of 1,000 hectares and Rach Bap Industrial Park.
Mai Hung Dung, a Standing Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Standing Vice Chairman of Binh Duong Provincial People’s Committee at a recent meeting said that to receive high-quality FDI inflows, Binh Duong continues to improve the investment environment, creating all favourable conditions for existing FDI enterprises to develop production and business effectively. Furthermore, Binh Duong insists on selective investment cooperation to contribute to economic restructuring, prioritising attracting high-tech and new technology projects, using and creating clean, friendly energy with the environment calling for call large-scale projects, and highly competitive products to join the global value chain.
Dong Nai is coordinating with ministries and branches to speed up the completion of procedures to establish 8 new industrial zones approved by the Prime Minister with more than 7,000 hectares of industrial land to call for investment. Ba Ria – Vung Tau province also plans from now to 2030 to expand 8 more industrial zones with a land fund of more than 8,000 ha to meet the needs of investors.
Along with the IP expansion, in 2023, the Southeast provinces will continue to improve the investment environment. Accordingly, Ho Chi Minh City will re-establish the single window mechanism in industrial parks to avoid the situation that investors have to go “multiple doors”, and at the same time, let businesses assess the operating capacity of departments and branches. In Binh Duong, all business-related online procedures will be carried out online from 2023. Similarly, Dong Nai and Ba Ria – Vung Tau also promote the improvement of the investment environment, administrative reform, in which Business-related procedures are always resolved quickly.