Auto firm Toyota Vietnam's factory in Vĩnh Phúc Province. - Photo toyotavn.com.vn

VĨNH PHÚC – Vĩnh Phúc Province must improve the quality of its educational and training system to attract more foreign investment, heard a conference on Wednesday.

According to EuroCham and AmCham, quality of human resources is the biggest challenge for the province and Việt Nam in general to luring more foreign investment.

Marko Walde, chief representative of the Delegate of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam (AHK Vietnam), said German companies and European investors “need people with proper vocational training” in mechanics, electronics and other industrial production fields.

The lack of skilled workers is a challenge for European companies when coming to Việt Nam, he said. Other challenges include business environment, infrastructure, traffic, power supply and the weakness of Vietnamese companies.

As German firms invest in long term of 25-30 years with top equipment and facilities, they need high-quality and skilled labour to operate factories and that is a big challenge in Việt Nam, he added.

“German firms don’t want to create an island. We want to create a certain business environment for neighbourhood,” Marko said.

“We want to have Vietnamese suppliers, develop business relationship with local companies,” he said.

He suggested provincial authorities improve the business environment by strengthening local companies and developing vocational training centres.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Việt Nam’s vice chairwoman Virginia Foote also stressed US companies want to have a more intense relationship with Vietnamese partners on the occasion of AmCham’s 25th anniversary in early November.

Noting Việt Nam has been successfully developing its export-based economy in agriculture, clothing and footwear, she asked what would be the next step for the Southeast Asia economy in the age of Industry 4.0.

“The importance of the labour force being as industrial and plentiful as it is to get the next generation ready to attract investment in engineering, science and technology,” she said.

American companies and other foreign investors expect the Vietnamese education system to link with technology development, she added.

It is not easy for Việt Nam to produce world-class vocational school and equipment, Foote said, adding “vocational schools can link up with foreign companies” to determine what kinds of training and research are needed to help the economy grow.

Deal signing

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyễn Văn Trì on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Delegate of German Industry and Commerce in Việt Nam (AHK Vietnam), the American Chamber of Commerce in Việt Nam (AmCham) and the European Chamber of Commerce in Việt Nam (EuroCham) to attract investors from Germany, Europe and the US.

According to Trì, there are 752 domestic direct investment (DDI) projects in the province with total invested capital of VNĐ78 trillion (US$3.3 billion) and 376 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with total capital of more than $5 billion.

Only 3 per cent of all FDI projects in the province belong to European and US investors with capital of $170 million.

Some successful investors in the province include vehicle manufacturers Toyota, Honda and Piaggio, animal feed producer De Heus and Vietnamese firm Vingroup. – VNS