Overview of the meeting between Taiwanese enterprises and Bình Dương's authorities on Wednesday. — Photo baochinhphu.vn

BÌNH DƯƠNG — The southern province of Bình Dương will continue improving the local investment climate, focusing on accelerating administrative reforms and sharpening its investment competiveness in order to better facilitate foreign investors including those from Taiwan.

Vice chairman of the province’s People’s Committee Mai Hùng Dũng delivered this statement during a meeting with Taiwanese enterprises which are investing in the province on Wednesday.

Bình Dương will concentrate on perfecting infrastructure facilities, expanding industrial zones to provide investors with a sufficient land source besides improving the quality of the province’s personnel, Dũng said.

At the same time, local authorities also want to learn about issued faced by enterprises to help them perform better.

During the meeting, representatives from Taiwanese firms outlined difficulties in recruiting workers as one of their biggest issues when investing in the province. That has not only affected these companies’ ability to fulfil orders but also caused difficulties for their expansion plans, they said.

The online newspaper baochinhphu.vn cited Wu Chun-ying, president of the Bình Dương-based Taiwan Business Association as saying that many member enterprises, especially ones operating in industrial zones, are having trouble seeking labourers.
These firms have encountered difficulties in both recruitment of unskilled workers and skilled workers, he said, adding that the labour shortages had pushed Taiwanese firms to increase wages for workers to easily recruit and retain them.

Answering these concerns, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Phạm Văn Tuyên said his department will help the firms find labourers in neighbouring localities, adding that Bình Dương’s centre for employment services has teamed up with similar ones in other localities to recruit workers for the firms.
In the long term, the department plans to focus more on improving skills for the workers to increase labour productivity, Tuyên noted.
Bình Dương now ranks third in the country in foreign direct investment attraction with more than 3,650 valid projects, worth a total of US$33.1 billion.

Among 64 countries and territories investing in the southern industrial hub, Taiwan is top with 843 projects, worth $5.53 billion. Most Taiwanese-financed projects operate in the fields of textile and garment, footwear, automobile support, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and food processing.
In the first seven months, Taiwanese enterprises have registered to inject $237 million in the province. — VNS