INVESTING FDI IN VIETNAM

The restoration of visa policies as before Covid-19 will make an important contribution to promoting the inflow of foreign investment into Vietnam.

Foreign investment enterprises have made a huge contribution to Vietnam's economic growth.Photo: Đ.T

Welcome investors

Vietnam has officially reinstated its visa policy as it did before Covid-19, in order to welcome its international visitors returning from 15 March. Not only is there a positive effect on tourism, but the complete relaxation of foreign entry restrictions after 2 years of "social distancing" is also expected to contribute significantly to promoting foreign investment in Vietnam.

“Recovering visa regulations before the pandemic is essential to increase the inflow of foreign investment to Vietnam and to ensure that tens of thousand of international businesses already present in Vietnam can continue to contribute to Vietnam's economic growth in the coming years,” said Alain Cany, President of the European Business Association (EuroCham) in Vietnam.

. For past two years, although FDI still flows into Vietnam, Mr. Do Nhat Hoang, the Director of the Foreign Investment Department always mentioned the obstacles and difficulties coming from the prevention measures, as well as the entry restriction measures that Vietnam is forced to implement as Covid-19 outbreaks erupt. The decline of investment through capital contribution, share purchase (M&A) has resulted from the fact that investors cannot come to Vietnam to learn, negotiate and sign purchase - sale deals.

Many investment plans, projects have been delayed because of difficulties in entry policies for foreign experts and visitors. As the Covid-19 issue is controlled, more projects will be promoted, and one of them may be Amkor's Semiconductor Manufacturing Project in Bac Ninh.

Last year, Amkor sent a letter to the Vietnamese authorities asking to create favorable conditions for the Company's senior experts to come to Vietnam to work. Initially, the delegation was planned to arrive at the end of August, but finally, due to the entry procedures, it was not until the beginning of November 2021 that the leaders of Amkor came to Vietnam to sign an agreement to develop the Project of Semiconductor Materials Manufacturing, Assembly and Testing Plant in Yen Phong II Industrial Park, with a scale of 1.6 billion USD.

With Amkor's high investment determination and Bac Ninh province leaders' supports, Vuong Dinh Hue, leaders of Bac Ninh province awarded the Project Development Agreement and the Investment Registration Certificate for Phase I during the week of December 2021. Accordingly, Phase I of the Project has an investment capital of $520 million, which is expected to be disbursed within 5 years. The remaining investment capital will be invested by 2035.

Recently, Bac Ninh Provincial People's Committee approved the environmental impact assessment report for the Project. This is an important basis for Amkor to quickly implement the Project in Bac Ninh. In addition to the fact that the Government of Vietnam has just decided to ease the entry restrictions, the opportunity for the Project to soon implement and be able to mass-produce from 2023 is even greater.

“Many Taiwanese investors are also waiting for easing-entry policies, to make new investment decisions,” Le Tuan, Assistant Manager of the Office, Head of the Investment Section, Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei has repeatedly confirmed to the Investment Newspaper correspondent.

The capital flow is returning.

Foreign investment in Vietnam has not stopped flowing, although it has been slower than before the Covid-19 pandemic. But surely, as Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung has affirmed, the prospects of attracting foreign investment in Vietnam in 2022 and the following years will be positive.

“There will be many large-scale, high-quality projects of the world's leading corporations to Vietnam,” said Minister Nguyen Chi Dung.

. It's not just Intel, Amkor, LEGO projects... as recently mentioned, recent moves show that many big projects are continuing to invest in Vietnam.

Earlier this year, Samsung increased its investment by $920 million in Samsung Electromechanical Plant (SEMV), thereby increasing its total investment in Vietnam to over $19 billion, more than 28 times more than its original commitment ($670 million) back in 2008, further confirming its position as the largest foreign investor in Vietnam.

More importantly, according to Choi Joo Ho, General Director of Samsung Vietnam, in its development plan, Samsung will gradually make Vietnam not only a global key manufacturing location, but also a strategic hub for the Group's R&D. 

Samsung's new R&D center will be completed by the end of 2022, completing Samsung's strategic investment plan in Vietnam

Currently, Samsung is actively accelerating the construction of a new R&D Center in Hanoi, with an investment of up to $220 million, in order to improve R&D capacity in the medium and long term. It is expected that the new center will open by the end of 2022, in line with Samsung's commitment to the Government of Vietnam.

When the new R&D Center comes into operation, and focuses on researching new technological trends of the world such as AI, Big Data, IoT..., Samsung's strategic investment plan in Vietnam will be completed.

Recently, Samsung held the 2022 GSAT recruitment, after being forced to pause last year due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic. Elite candidates with good results in this GSAT exam will be selected as official employees of Samsung Vietnam and work at Samsung's manufacturing facilities in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen, and also Samsung Vietnam Mobile Phone R&D Center (SVMC).

The continued recruitment of large human resources is now also a confirmation of long-term and sustainable investment commitment in Vietnam. “Samsung Vietnam will continuously recruit talented people to contribute to the development of the company in particular and the economic development and human resource development of Vietnam in general,” Choi Joo Ho said.

In addition to Samsung, earlier this year, after increasing its capital by $400 million to bring the total investment of the factory in Nghe An to $500 million, Goertek has also continued to increase its investment by more than $300 million for the Electronic Equipment Processing Plant, multimedia audio products in Bac Ninh. In addition to this investment, Goertek's project in Bac Ninh has an investment of $565.7 million.

Goertek has recently continuously expanded its investment in Vietnam. It is a secondary manufacturer of many of the world's major technology enterprises, including Apple. Goertek is a manufacturer of Airpods products for Apple in Vietnam and contributes significantly to the country's export turnover.

Despite the impact of Covid-19 in 2021, Goertek Vina in Bac Ninh still achieved revenue of $3.28 billion, an increase of 20.4% compared to 2020. The increased market demand is the reason why Goertek continues to increase its investment capital in Bac Ninh, as well as in Nghe An.

Meanwhile, in the recent meeting between Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung and the ASEAN-US Business Council, Michael Michalak, senior vice president of the Council, affirmed that Vietnam continues to be an attractive destination for US investors in the future.

That is also the reason Ford Vietnam expects to increase production capacity and recruit more workers this year. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil Group is continuing to pursue investment projects in Vietnam.

In February, on the occasion of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's visit to Singapore, the two countries also signed and awarded cooperation documents worth nearly $11 billion. Among these, it is worth noting the SOVICO Group's partnership agreements with partners such as Keppel Land, Keppel Energy Ventures..., up to $5.2 billion in size. Or agreement on investment in the 500 ha industrial complex and 200 ha urban complex, with an expected investment capital of $2.5 billion, of Saigon Telecommunication Technology Joint Stock Company (Saigontel), VinaCapital Company and Aurous Company (Singapore)...

It is an evidence to the return of foreign investment inflows into Vietnam.

Soucre: Nguyễn Đức, Baodautu.com