Going through challenges, FDI is more committed to Vietnam

At the seminar "Covid 19 and FDI: Impacts and Prospects" held by the Government portal on 27/9/2021, with the participation of Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc; Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen; Vice-Chairman of Bac Ninh Provincial People's Committee Vuong Quoc Tuan; Vice-Chairman of Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thi Hoang; General Director of Nestlé Vietnam Co., Ltd. Binu Jacob; Mr. Choi Joo Ho, General Director of Samsung Vietnam complex, representative of Nestlé and Samsung affirmed that the Vietnamese market is still very attractive to foreign investors and will continue to expand investment in Vietnam.

In 1995, Nestlé Group officially returned to Vietnam with the establishment of Nestlé Vietnam Co., Ltd. Up to now, Nestlé's total investment in Vietnam has reached US$ 730 million, launched 4 factories and 2 distribution centers.

“Vietnam is recognized as one of the most efficient and flexible in all markets where Nestlé is present”, said Binu Jacob, Managing Director of Nestlé Vietnam.

Nestlé continues to invest US$ 132 million in two years in Vietnam to double its production capacity of instant coffee for export and turn Vietnam into a production center for liquid food products specializing in supplying export markets in Asia and Australia.

Nestlé's belief is also something that many large foreign investors in Vietnam have affirmed even though they are all struggling to cope with the impact of Covid-19.

From 2008 to now, Samsung has invested US$ 17.7 billion in Vietnam and repeatedly expressed its ambition to turn Vietnam from a key global manufacturing base to a research and development center. Samsung has decided to build a Research and Development Center in Hanoi with the scale of investments reaching US$220 million, in order to improve its research and development capacity in the medium and long term.

Commenting on the investment environment in Vietnam, Choi Joo Ho – General Director of Samsung Vietnam said: “With abundant labor force, stable socio-political situation, production and circulation infrastructure, investment incentives, Vietnam is providing an attractive investment environment not only for Samsung but for all foreign investors.” Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many negative impacts. However, Mr. Choi said: "In the long term, Vietnam remains an attractive investment destination for foreign investors."

Mr. Choi Joo Ho added: "Based on the confidence accumulated after overcoming these crises and confidence in the Government of Vietnam, we are continuously expanding our investment. Currently, Samsung has disbursed all the approved investment capital; and every year, we still maintain additional investments of hundreds of millions of dollars."

In fact, the amount of newly registered foreign capital in 9 months has decreased, but the amount of additional registered capital still increased sharply.

Data from Ministry of Planning and Investment show that in the first nine months of 2021, 1,212 new foreign investment projects were granted investment registration certificates, down 37.8%.

However, it is noteworthy that the registered capital of these projects reached nearly US$12.5 billion, increased by 20.6% compared to the same period last year. That shows that the scale of FDI projects has increased.

In first 9 month of 2021, 42 countries and territories have invested in Dong Nai with a registered capital of up to 32 billion USD, the total amount of newly and attracted investment capital increased by 25% over the same period last year and reached 88% of the plan for 2021- Vice Chairman of Dong Nai People's Committee Nguyen Thi Hoang said.

Vice-Chairman of the Bac Ninh Provincial People's Committee Vuong Quoc Tuan said: “Investment attraction in 9 months of FDI sector reached more than US$650 million, an increase of 1.5 times compared to 2020. We expect that if the situation stabilizes, by the end of the year, FDI attraction will reach more than US$2 billion for the whole year.”

Dorsati Mandani, a senior economist at the World Bank in Vietnam, commented: "Despite the challenges in the third quarter of 2021, when looking at FDI inflows in August, the WB still sees commitment. In fact, in the first 8 months of 2021, total committed FDI capital reached US$14 billion, only 2% lower than the same period in 2020. Meanwhile, disbursed investment capital reached US$11.7 billion, up 2% over the same period last year."

"It's a sign that international investors still expect to develop their businesses in Vietnam," said the World Bank economist, adding that a global food production group has announced that the group is investing another US$180 million in Vietnam.

New strategy, more trust

Bac Ninh is the leading locality in giving initiatives to maintain production during the outbreak with the "3 on the spot" model.

“In order to maintain production, workers must eat and stay on the spot. At that time, Bac Ninh was the first locality to implement the "3 on the spot", said Mr. Vuong Quoc Tuan, Vice Chairman of Bac Ninh Provincial People's Committee.

With synchronous measures, the number of enterprises registered to do this increased from 500 enterprises to 1000 enterprises. After 8 days (from June 2 to June 20), the epidemic was controlled and production was relatively stable again.

Bac Ninh's model was then applied in many provinces and cities across the country, contributing to maintaining production during the epidemic. In terms of investment attraction, Bac Ninh has implemented the model of "2 little, 3 high, 4 ready" concretizing Resolution No. 50-NQ/TW dated August 20, 2019 of the Politburo on the orientation to