The northern port city of Hai Phong attracted nearly 30 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects totaling almost 2 billion USD in registered capital in 2013, an increase of over 60 percent compared to 2012. Analysis published by the Vietnam Economic News on February 8.

In 2012, Hai Phong attracted 1.2 billion USD in FDI and was considered a highlight in FDI attraction. The city currently has nearly 400 effective FDI projects with total registered capital of over 8 billion USD.

Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority Head Pham Thuyen said that in recent years, the quality and size of FDI projects markedly improved. Previously, the projects' scale was only 2-4 million USD and the number of projects with capital of 20 million USD upward was small.

Hai Phong has now attracted large projects from Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK), such as LG, Bridgestone, Fuji Xerox, Kyocera and Nipro Pharma. These projects use modern technology and equipment, have a high added value and can help attract other projects. FDI projects worth hundreds of millions of USD and even billions of USD are found in Hai Phong.

FDI attraction in the city has seen a breakthrough since 2011 when it attracted 910 million USD in FDI. The city attracted 1.2 billion USD through 29 projects and became one of the biggest localities nationwide in terms of FDI attraction in 2012.

Hai Phong has more advantages than other localities to attract foreign investment. The city currently has 12 industrial zones, a notable of which is Nomura. Since 1994, Hai Phong has pioneered in building industrial parks with modern, consistent infrastructure. Nomura has become one of the most successful industrial zones in Vietnam. It has leased out all of its area to investors. The other 11 industrial parks, including the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VISIP), Dinh Vu-Cat Hai Industrial Zone, and Trang Due Industrial Zone, among others, have an area of hundreds of hectare of land each and modern infrastructure satisfying domestic and foreign investors’ needs.

Hai Phong is a favorable gateway to land, railway and waterway routes and ranks first among provinces and cities nationwide in terms of seaport services. That is why most of big investors in Hai Phong produce goods for export.

In recent years, administrative procedures in the city have improved to increase investor’s comfort. Hai Phong has taken the initiative in catching the wave of investment from many countries.

Hai Phong targets to attract about 1.2 billion USD in FDI in 2014. To achieve this target the city has many solutions including speeding up the construction of infrastructure projects and creating a breakthrough in the construction of essential infrastructure in the Dinh Vu-Cat Hai Economic Zone.-VNA