Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Investors in overseas projects are allowed to transfer abroad an amount of foreign currencies not more than 5 percent of their total capital contribution to the venture, and not more than 300,000 USD, as payment for activities relating to their projects before getting investment licenses from foreign local authorities.
According to a decree on investment overseas recently issued by the government, investors are able to transfer abroad foreign currencies, goods and machinery to meet expenses for their investment projects such as market and field surveys, international biddings, deposit or other financial guarantees, as well as asset purchase or hiring. The process must be in accordance with regulations governing foreign currency, export, customs and technology.
Projects abroad using State capital must abide by the Law on Investment of State Capital in Enterprises.
The decree also requires documents validating the site of projects for overseas investment in the fields of energy; agro-forestry-fisheries farming, exploitation and processing; mineral survey, exploration, exploitation and processing; manufacturing, processing and engineering; real estate and infrastructure.
Documents validating the site of projects can be one of the followings: investment licences granted by host countries which specify the location and the acreage of land of the projects; land lease or land use certificates; land lease contracts or business contracts specifying the location and the acreage of the land; or agreements on land transfer and lease, and business cooperative agreements with authorized parties in host countries.
As of the end of April this year, Vietnam had 962 investment projects abroad worth 15 billion USD, mostly in the fields of mining and agro-forestry-fisheries, reported the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Its largest markets are neighbours Laos and Cambodia, accounting for respective shares of 27 percent and 20 percent of the total investment made abroad.
Vietnamese investors have also gone beyond the region to nations like Russia, Venezuela and Peru. The three countries are hosting a combined 26 projects from Vietnam with total capital of over 4 billion USD.-VNA
