Capital confab spotlights foreign investment

(05-11-2005)

HA NOI — Ha Noi pledged to streamline administrative procedures under a ‘one-door’ policy to encourage further foreign direct investment (FDI) in the city, said Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Investment Nguyen Bich Dat at a conference on investment, trade and tourism co-operation yesterday.

Dat said that Ha Noi had achieved great success in attracting FDI, but still faced major challenges that need to be addressed.

Participants discussed upgrading city infrastructure, enhancing human resources, and stepping up investment-promotion activities as ways for the city to achieve its target of US$5 billion in FDI over the next five years.

In his speech at the conference, Tran Duc Vu, deputy director of the Ha Noi Department for Planning and Investment, focused on how developing investor-friendly industrial areas, establishing lists of projects seeking foreign investment in key sectors, and complying with international integration schedules.

The conference, held at the Ha Noi Daewoo Hotel, was mandated with explicating the capital city’s investment environment, discussing methods to create favourable conditions for foreign investors, and finding solutions for investors faced with difficulties implementing projects in Ha Noi.

Vice Chairman of Ha Noi City People’s Committee Nguyen The Quang handed over a license for a new project by foreign-owned Nortel Viet Nam at the conference.

The $7.5 million project will provide consultation, technical and maintenance services for the nation-wide CDMA 2000 mobile network.

Quang expressed his hopes that Ha Noi would become a successful investment destination and a peaceful place for business people and investors to meet and conduct open dialogues.

The MPI revealed that since the Law on Foreign Investment was promulgated in 1987, Ha Noi has attracted 560 foreign-invested projects from 42 nations and territories with capital totalling $7.9 billion.

Construction projects accounted for 32.7 per cent of that capital, while industrial production projects contributed 17 per cent, and the rest was from telecommunication projects and hotels.

The MPI reported the foreign-invested sector accounted for 15 per cent of total social investment capital, representing about 34 per cent of total industrial output and 21 per cent of export revenue of Ha Noi each year.

The sector accounted for 10 per cent of the total national budget, 15 per cent of the city’s total GDP, and was responsible for 10 per cent of new jobs created each year.

Last year, foreign-invested enterprises reported earnings of $600 million in export turnover, bringing the sector’s total revenue up to $1.8 billion, and created more than 44,000 jobs in such industries as vehicle assembly, informatics, telecommunications and construction.

In the first 10 months of the year, Ha Noi granted licences for 63 new projects and expanded a further 49, generating combined registered capital of $1.4 billion, seven times higher than the same period last year. The city has become the nation’s premiere destination in terms of attracting FDI leading capital.

In its report, the MPI concluded that Ha Noi is proving to be the most important economic and international transaction centre in the country. — VNS