Vietnam is an attractive destination for Singaporean investors as it shares a lot of cultural similarities with the island nation, said Chiong Woan Shin, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.

“ Vietnam has proven itself an attractive market for many foreign investors, especially after it joined the World Trade Organisation,” she stressed.

According to Chiong, the political stability, young and abundant human resources, and investment incentive policies are factors that help Vietnam draw the attention from foreign investors in general and Singaporeans in particular.

By the end of the 2010 first quarter, Singapore ranked third among countries and territories investing in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 146.7 million USD, accounting for 6.9 percent of the country’s total foreign investment, said the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI)’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

Singapore ’s projects mainly focus on urban infrastructure development, building of industrial parks, export processing zones and seaports, transport, health, education, tourism, food processing and consumer goods.

A FIA representative said the average size of Singaporean projects reached 18.7 million USD per project, two or three times higher than that of other countries and territories such as the Republic of Korea , Taiwan , Hong Kong and Malaysia .

The Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP), which began operations in January 1996, is considered a model for operation and management work. The VSIP model has been multiplied in both northern and southern regions of the country.

At present, the MPI and the Singaporean Economic Development Agency are speeding up the adjustment of a rapid agreement mechanism on granting investment certificates in order to lure more FDI from Singaporean investors.

Recently, the IE has sent a delegation of leaders of 22 Singaporean organisations and businesses to survey the Vietnamese market./.