HCM City augments measures to attract FDI

HCM City(VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is employing a host of measures to press on with attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), especially in high-tech and hi-tech support industries.

Right in the first week of 2016, the management board of the Saigon Hi-tech Park presented investment certificates to three new projects, including one FDI project with registered capital of 21 million USD by Malaysia’s United More Sdn Bhd. The project is set to manufacture 12 million plastic products for smart TVs every year.

In the first two months of this year, the city granted investment registration certificates for 90 projects with combined capital of 155.9 million USD. Another 78.8 million USD was added to 25 existing projects, helping HCM City stay among the top five FDI destinations in Vietnam, according to the municipal People’s Committee.

Twenty-three countries and territories poured money into projects there, including Japan (three projects worth 50.6 million USD), Singapore (18 projects worth 39.5 million USD), and Malaysia (three projects valued at 22.6 million USD). They were followed by Indonesia (one project – 8.3 million USD), the Republic of Korea (17 projects – 7.5 million USD) and Thailand (four projects – 6.4 million USD).

Le Thi Huynh Mai, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment, said the city is conducting a series of reforms to facilitate investments such as helping foreign investors compile business registration dossiers free of charge, providing an online investment registration service and granting investment registration certificates by post.

Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Le Van Khoa said his city will focus investment attraction efforts on key industrial and service sectors and hi-tech agriculture.

It is also eyeing at inviting investments from the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the Republic of Korea and especially Japan in 2016. To do so, 108 promotion activities are planned to be organised this year.

Additionally, HCM City will solidify cooperation with foreign provinces and cities, he noted, adding that it plans to set up a Japan desk to offer the best possible assistance to Japanese investors.

He took the recent cooperation between Japan’s Creed Group with two Vietnamese companies as an example of effective investment promotion. The Creed Group agreed to work with the Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corporation and the An Gia Investment company in a housing project in District 7. The 8,000-flat project has capital of up to 500 million USD.-VNA