Vietnam striving to address foreign investors’ concerns: deputy minister

The Vietnamese government is making tireless efforts to address major concerns of foreign investors as the country competes for investment in important industries, said a deputy investment minister.

Answering reporters’ questions at a regular press meeting last weekend, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong highlighted Vietnam’s higher-than-expected inbound foreign direct investment over the past year amid a gloomy global economic outlook.

After luring $36.6 billion in registered FDI last year, up 32% year-on-year, the country saw FDI commitments up 38.6% to $4.3 billion in the first two months of this year, which Phuong said was “stunning” and indicated high interest from international investors.

He attributed the performance to Vietnam’s political and macroeconomic stability, efforts made by high-ranking diplomatic efforts, and foreign investors betting on Vietnam’s growth potential.

The deputy minister pointed out highly positive fresh investment figures. “This is a very good signal and this new investment flow will have a great impact on our economic growth in 2024 as well as 2025,” he said.

Phuong also spoke of his ministry’s tasks assigned by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to seek investments from leading global players in priority areas such as science-technology and innovation, particularly semiconductors.

To make Vietnam even more attractive, the government is ironing out foreign investors’ concerns in three main areas.

The first and foremost is infrastructure and land, which is needed for landmark projects. To address related issues, the government is focusing on speeding up large-scale infrastructure projects and drafting regulations to implement the new Land Law, which was passed last year and will take effect in January 2025.

The enactment of the new Land Law is much awaited by both domestic and foreign investors as its novelties are set to remove hurdles to investment, Phuong said.

Secondly, the government is working to make a breakthrough in preparing a skilled workforce. The ministries of planning and investment and education and training are urgently drafting a project to train some 100,000 laborers in innovation, including 50,000 semiconductor engineers.

Thirdly, institutional reform is another area the government is working on, ranging from new investment-focused laws to regulations related to immigration and visas.

“We need to work on policies attractive enough to encourage and facilitate large-scale projects in Vietnam,” Phuong added.