Busy days ahead for deal-making

Van Duc Phu – Senior expert Investment Promotion Centre, North Vietnam

The upcoming days are expected to be a dynamic of investment promotion along with new unveilings and the presence of some huge new investors. According to one source, a special aircraft will take dozens of leading South Korean investors to Vietnam this week to confirm deals and reveal new plans for the country. In addition, new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects and expansions with huge amounts pouring into energy and manufacturing in particular are set to be revealed soon.

Vietnam is being conservative in opening up even as vaccination efforts roll on, because the outbreak of the pandemic worldwide is still complicated. In fact, while waiting for vaccine visas, some Vietnamese airlines have resumed international flights. Since April, Vietnam Airlines has resumed four international commercial flight routes, connecting Hanoi with Tokyo, Seoul, and Sydney.

In September, more commercial routes will be resumed, and investors holding a vaccine passport may be able to enter Vietnam without having to undergo quarantine, bringing more deals and foreign investment. In fact, amid the pandemic and a lot of difficulties in travel, hundreds of investment decisions are still being made every month.

For example, last week, at a webinar between the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) and businesses in Japan's Aichi province, most Japanese businesses expressed their attention to the regulations of immigration and quarantine in Vietnam.

Previously, hundreds of special aircraft have taken thousands of investors from Russia, the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Australia to Vietnam to find numerous investment opportunities during the pandemic. Besides these, many investors used normal flights and agreed to be quarantined for 14 days before looking for partners, projects, and information.

Investment promotion events can lead to huge foreign-invested projects and expansions. Photo: Dung Minh

In addition to direct meetings and offline investment promotion, online investment promotion has become a new concept during the pandemic. Last September, three investment promotion conferences with Singapore, the United Kingdom, and France were organised with the participation of hundreds of overseas investors and dozens of business associations in various countries.

In addition to direct discussing with such investors, the FIA also signed MoUs with international financial and consultant organisations like HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, and Ernst & Young Vietnam to further strengthen investment promotion and mobilise more funding.

Despite pandemic difficulties, diversifying investment promotion has been effective. In the first three months of 2021, $9.3 billion was poured into new and additionally-registered foreign-invested ventures, which is the highest figure over the last 10 years.

The outcomes of FDI mobilisation and good performance of investment promotion are driven by the sound direction of the Party, state, and government. I believe the circular on outstanding mechanisms for calling for FDI capital, which is expected to be approved by the prime minister in the time coming, and moves on vaccine passports will level up FDI attraction further.