Experts seek ways to improve FDI efficiency
The suggestion was made by
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Van Trung at a recent
workshop on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ho Chi Minh City.
He also stressed the need to effectively implement the Government’s
Resolution 103/NQ-CP dated August 29, 2013, on orientations to improve
FDI attraction, use and management in the coming time.
In this resolution, the Government entrusted the Ministry of Planning
and Investment (MPI), in coordination with relevant ministries, agencies
and localities, to draft many bills, including the revised Investment
and Enterprise Laws.
The effective implementation of
the resolution is very significant for improving the investment climate
and raising Vietnam’s competitiveness in FDI attraction,
contributing to the growth and sustainable development of the economy,
Trung stressed.
Director of the MPI’s Foreign
Investment Department Do Nhat Hoang said investment policies must be
coupled with incentives, which are applied uniformly in all sectors and
localities.
Localities should pay attention to small
and medium-scale projects in line with each economic sector and
locality; encourage, facilitate and strengthen links among FDI
businesses and between them and domestic enterprises, he said.
He also suggested making plans to lure FDI by sector, field and
partner in line with the advantages of each region and sector, ensuring
overall national interests and economic restructuring under a new growth
model.
Deputy Minister Trung affirmed that FDI
has added an important source to Vietnam ’s economic development
investment, helping the country improve its production capacity,
renovate technology, increase export turnover and change the structure
of export commodities, he said.
Since Vietnam
began luring FDI 25 years ago, the capital has actively contributed to
the nation’s growth and development achievements, he added.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of
Foreign-Invested Enterprises, highlighted the FDI sector’s great
contributions to Vietnam ’s economy, especially when the world
economy and global FDI are yet to recover as expected.
The exports of FDI businesses (excluding crude oil) fetched 81.1
billion USD in 2013, up 26.8 percent against the previous year and
accounting for over 61 percent of the country’s total export turnover.
They posted a trade surplus of 13.9 billion USD compared to the
country’s figure of 863 million USD.
However, many
experts said that the country’s FDI attraction has not yet created a
development momentum for domestic businesses and FDI enterprises are yet
to have great influence on their local peers.
FDI
activity over the past time has revealed some shortcomings such as the
poor quality of foreign-invested projects, few projects using high
technology, and transnational corporations’ limited investment in
production chains.
In addition, many FDI businesses
have used outdated technology that pollutes the environment while some
others have shown signs of transfer pricing to evade taxes, causing
budget losses, they said.
According to Mai, the MPI
has announced that more than 500 FDI enterprises stopped operations with
a total investment of nearly one billion USD, and many business owners
returned to their home countries.
Therefore, the
ministry needs to make more synchronous and rapid renovations in the
State management of FDI in the direction of creating more favourable
conditions for investors and businesses, he noted.
By the end of 2013, Vietnam boasted nearly 15,700 valid FDI
projects, with a total registered capital of more than 230 billion USD,
of which over 112 billion USD was disbursed.
Last
year alone, the country had 1,275 new foreign-invested projects with a
total registered capital of 14.27 billion USD, and 472 projects raised
investment with a combined additional capital of 7.3 billion USD. FDI
disbursement was estimated at 11.5 billion USD, up nearly 10 percent
against 2012.-VNA