Hai Phong city woos FDI in free trade zone, special economic zone

Hai Phong city is calling on partners from mainland China, Taiwan and South Korea to invest in the free trade zone and free economic zone that it plans to establish.

The appeal was made Wednesday in separate meetings between senior city officials and visiting delegations.

China's Wolong Electric Group

At a Wednesday working session with China’s Wolong Electric Group, Hai Phong Chairman Nguyen Van Tung said the city was drafting a plan to build a free economic zone and urged the Chinese giant to help with the task.

Tung also lauded Chinese businesses’ investments in Hai Phong via 146 projects with total registered capital of $1.1 billion. This ranks China third in terms of the number of projects and sixth in terms of investment capital in the city.

The Wolong chairman Chen Jiancheng said that the group was planning to expand its investment in Hai Phong with an additional capital of $20 million in order to relocate its engine manufacturing to the city. The firm also plans to build a cleaning detergent factory in the northern port city, he said.

Wolong has been operating a subsidiary at the An Duong Industrial Park since 2018 with an investment of $30 million and 450 staff, Chen noted.

Tung welcomed the additional investment and asked relevant municipal agencies to facilitate it.

Taiwan business delegation

Also Wednesday, Le Trung Kien, head of Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority (HEZA), met with local firm Xuan Cau-Lach Huyen Investment JSC and several Taiwanese funds and corporations.

Kien proposed that Taiwanese firms invest more in Hai Phong, utilizing their strengths in the non-tariff zone, especially in areas of international maritime transport, logistics, chip and semiconductor manufacturing.

He also urged the Taiwanese delegation help establish direct flights connecting Hai Phong’s Cat Bi airport and Taibei Shi and Kaohsiung cities.

Taiwanese firms can focus more on technology transfer and utilize services of local companies in order to improve linkages between businesses of Hai Phong and Taiwan, Kien said.

The Taiwan delegation said they were particularly focused on examining the Lach Huyen deep-water seaport and Xuan Cau free trade zone-industrial park. The delegation suggested that the city steps up development of expressways, railways and airways; strengthen seaport management; and improve human resources training.

Hai Phong currently hosts 30 Taiwanese investment projects with a total registered capital of $1.68 billion. Some of the more notable Taiwanese investors are Pegatron with $800 million, Universal Scientific Industrial with $215 million, Phihong with $100 million, and Lite On with $89 million.

South Korean delegation

Le Tien Chau, Secretary of the Hai Phong Party Committee, met with a South Korean delegation Wednesday and asked them to share their experiences in building free trade zones, training workforce, managing urban areas, and establishing an innovation and development center.

Park Byeong-Seug, former speaker of South Korea’s National Assembly, recommended Hai Phong authorities to continue facilitating South Korean investments, support Korean citizens in the city including building an international school for their children.

Hai Phong has so far welcomed 105 South Korean investment projects with a total registered capital of $9.97 billion. In 2022, these projects recorded revenues of $14.5 billion, including $13.5 billion from exports, providing employment to 41,000 people.

U.S. consulting firm CT Strategies LLC signed a contract on July 8 with Vietnam’s L.Q Joton Group to carry out a feasibility study for a free trade zone in Hai Phong city. Ho Chi Minh City-based L.Q Joton Group expects to build the zone in Tien Lang district, utilizing the advantages of connecting with deep-water seaports in Hai Phong and major roads in surrounding areas.

“Regarding feasibility, we’ll analyze significant factors such as infrastructure, planning, business models and funding,” CT Strategies CEO Andrew Farrelly said at the contract signing ceremony.

The port city of Haiphong, northern Vietnam’s logistics hub, is cementing its position as an industrial hub. In a massive industrialization push, the city administration approved in late June a list of 137 projects calling for FDI in the 2023-2025 period. These include 16 industrial parks, nine logistics centers, and 52 urban development areas.

In late June, LG Innotek, an electronic component arm of South Korean electronics giant LG, received an adjusted investment certificate for an additional $1 billion in LG Innotek Vietnam Hai Phong Co. Ltd. in Hai Phong, doubling its investment in the city to $2.05 billion.