The northern province of Vĩnh Phúc promoted its potential and called for investment at a conference held in Gyeonggi Province in South Korea on Friday. —  Photo vinhphuc.gov.vn

SEOUL — The northern province of Vĩnh Phúc promoted its potential and called for investment at a conference held in Gyeonggi Province in South Korea on Friday. 

Speaking before an audience of South Korean businesspeople, Chairman of Vĩnh Phúc provincial People’s Committee Nguyễn Vân Trì highlighted the province’s convenient location in Việt Nam’s northern key economic zone and favourable natural conditions suitable for industry, tourism and hi-tech agriculture. 

He informed the South Korean business circle that the province has made efforts to streamline its administrative procedures, upgrade infrastructure, especially at industrial zones, and train the local labour force. 

The provincial leader reported that Vĩnh Phúc is now home to more than 300 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, including many run by South Korean corporations such as Partron Vina, Haesung Vina, Bangjoo and Interflex. Several more South Korean firms, namely Interflex, Young Poong Electronics and Korea Circuit, are planning investments worth close to US$1 billion in the Đồng Sóc industrial cluster. 

He urged South Korean firms to consider investing in fields such as supporting  industry for automobile and electronic part production, farm produce processing, urban areas, hotels, eco-tourism, education-training and health care. 

Vietnamese Ambassador to South Korea Nguyễn Vũ Tú briefed the conference on the growing strategic co-operative partnership between Việt Nam and South Korea. 

South Korea is currently the top foreign investor in Việt Nam with accumulated investment of more than $60 billion as of July this year. Bilateral trade topped $60 billion in 2017, making South Korea the second-largest trade partner of Việt Nam, while Việt Nam is the fourth-largest trade partner of South Korea. 

Each country has around 150,000 citizens living and working in the other country. 

The ambassador said sound political ties and close people-to-people exchange were factors that help boost economic cooperation between the two sides. 

He stressed that with high GDP growth of 6.8 percent last year, Việt Nam was an attractive destination for investors. — VNS