Annual report on FDI in Vietnam identifies new challenges, opportunities

The Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE) will release the 2023 edition of its annual report on foreign investment in the country on Tuesday.

The report’s theme is “Facing new challenges and opportunities - Attracting high-quality FDI in a more effective manner”, and the lead author is VAFIE chairman Prof. Nguyen Mai.

"It is being released in the context of many developed countries implementing policies to filter out and restrict FDI in a number of industries and fields related to national security, while encouraging the relocation of factories away from China," the VAFIE said.

Additionally, new-generation free trade agreements (FTA) are focusing on production and export of green products utilizing renewable energy, paying fair wages to workers, exercising corporate social responsibility and reducing carbon emissions to meet the world’s target of not having the global temperature increase by over 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, it added.

The report utilizes Vietnamese documents given by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and foreign institutions like the IMF, WB, ADB, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and data from some ASEAN countries.

Foreign business organizations in Vietnam, including the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro), the Korean Chamber of Commerce (Kocham), the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), have been consulted in preparing the report.

Several business associations like the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), and the Vietnam Energy Association (VEA) have also contributed to the report.

They have provided fair opinions on the business environment in Vietnam and the country’s achievements, challenges and opportunities in attracting high-quality FDI.

The 162-page report has three chapters and is available in both Vietnamese and English.

The VAFIE is the parent entity of The Investor (www.theinvestor.vn). Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan is standing vice chairman of the association cum editor-on-chief of the business publication.

Foreign investors have continued to bet on Vietnam’s success story, committing $4.29 billion in the first two months of this year, up 38.6% year-on-year.

The strong growth has been driven by a 55.2% year-on-year rise in the number of new projects and several large investments, the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency says in its latest monthly report.