Can Tho calls for Singaporean investment into priority fields

Singapore (VNA) – The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho is calling for Singaporean investment in many priority fields, including infrastructure development at industrial parks, smart city building, logistic zones, healthcare, and education-training.

At an investment promotion conference in Singapore on May 29, Chairman of the municipal People’s Council Pham Van Hieu said this was a good chance for Can Tho city to introduce its advantages to potential Singaporean investors.

He noted that the city is at the centre of and a driving force for the Mekong Delta which owns a completed transport system and relatively developed industrial, trade, and service infrastructure. It also has a favourable policy to attract foreign investment and the best possible conditions for industrial development, Hieu said.

These are also the prerequisites for Can Tho to call on Singaporean businesses to invest in developing world-class healthcare and educational establishments, Hieu said, adding that Singapore is one of the two countries where the city’s authorities focus investment attraction efforts on this year.

President of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) Douglas Foo said Can Tho and the SMF have close-knit cooperation, and they wish to enhance bilateral ties in the time ahead through the signing of memoranda of understanding on concrete programmes and fields, as well as the enhancement of partnerships in agricultural product processing, petrochemical and pharmaceutical production, medical equipment, and aerospace.

According to a 2018-2019 survey conducted by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), 32 percent of Singaporean enterprises said they are ready to invest in Vietnam, he noted.

Chairman of Singapore’s KinderWorld Group Ricky Tan said an international university project worth some 15 million USD in Can Tho has been submitted. If approved, it will be the first of its kind in the city, meeting the training demand in the Mekong Delta region.

He added that KinderWorld is currently the biggest foreign investor in school development in Vietnam, having invested over 200 million USD in 15 schools in eight provinces and cities. 

At the conference, Can Tho officials introduced the city’s investment climate, incentives for investors, and projects in need of investment. They also fielded participants’ questions about relevant information.

By the end of 2018, Can Tho was home to 82 foreign direct investment projects with registered capital totalling some 693.35 million USD, according to the local investment promotion agency.–VNA