In order to effectively support investment promotion work in localities and industrial parks, Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency cooperates with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the South Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), agencies under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and investment consultants organized the "Training conference on investment promotion for Vietnamese localities and industrial parks" programme on the afternoon of April 3 2024, this is an event within the framework of Vietnam Expo 2024 organized by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade from April 3 to April 6, 2024.
In the speech at the opening of the conference, Mr. Le Hoang Tai - Deputy Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency assessed the importance of the conference in improving investment promotion capacity for localities and industrial parks, especially for specialized officials in the field of investment promotion. In recent years, foreign direct investment (FDI) has played an increasingly important role in Vietnam's economic development. Since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), total FDI investment capital from foreign countries into Vietnam has increased sharply from 20.3 billion USD to over 473 billion USD with more than 39,000 investment projects implemented across the country. Of the total FDI capital from 144 countries and regions, Korea is the largest investor in Vietnam with a total registered capital of over 85 billion USD, followed by Japan with a total investment capital of more than 75 billion USD and China with about 27 billion USD of investment capital.
Vietnam's participation in and signing of 16 bilateral and multilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) has opened up opportunities for Vietnamese manufacturing enterprises to access most major markets in the world. At present, the import-export ratio of FDI enterprises accounts for about 75% of Vietnam's total import-export turnover.
The investment shift and production along with advanced technology and modern management of multinational corporations to Vietnam in recent times has been contributing to improving the competitiveness of the Vietnamese economy; contributing to Vietnam's effective integration into the world economy and playing an increasingly important role in the global supply value chain.
At the conference, Mr. Nguyen Ba Hai - Deputy Director of the Investment Promotion Center for Industry and Trade under Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, introduced the trade and industry development promotion programs in 2024, emphasizing activities such as editing and publishing the Vietnam Investment Promotion Handbook in 6 languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, French, and Vietnamese. The Handbook aims to help foreign investors understand the policies, environment,and investment laws in Vietnam. In addition, the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agencyalso implements the Investvietnam portal, where detailed information on the investment environment, preferential policies of localities and industrial parks in Vietnam is posted and updated regularly in 4 languages: English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. Other regular activities include welcoming foreign business delegations to promote trade and investment in Vietnam, such as delegations from Hong Kong (China), Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shandong (China), as well as organizing business delegations to promote investment abroad, frequently held markets include Japan, Korea and China, conferences and B2B networking sessions abroad always attract hundreds of foreign investors to participate and connect directly with localities, industrial parks, and Vietnamese businesses.
Mr. Nguyen Ba Hai spoke at the Conference
Mr. Takeo Nakajima– Chief Representative of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Hanoi highly appreciated the active participation of Vietnamese localities, industrial parks and enterprises and considered the conference a meaningful and practical activity. According to Mr. Najima, Vietnam has been an attractive investment destination for Japanese enterprises for many years. In 2023,Vietnam ranked 2nd for the 7th consecutive year in JETRO's survey on the investment environment for Japanese enterprises abroad. The investment demand and trend of Japanese enterprises in Vietnam are showing positive changes. Japanese enterprises are focusing on areas such as: Domestic business, digital transformation and green development. Vietnamese and Japanese companies have implemented a number of projects on digital transformation (DX) cooperation with different fields and cooperation models.
Mr. Takeo Nakajima spoke at the Conference
Mr. Sung Wook Cha, Head of Korea Desk, shared with the delegates that the purpose of Korea Desk isto support the investment and business activities of Korean businesses in Vietnam by solving difficulties, creating favorable conditions for Korean investment, and supporting investment promotion activities of the Vietnamese government and localities. In addition, Mr. Cha also shared about the economic trend and investment potential in the Vietnamese market from the perspective of Korean experts, the status of Vietnam-Korea investment and trade, the main activities of Korea Desk and strategies to attract Korean investors to Vietnam.He also answered questions from the delegates related to solutions to increase investment attraction of Korean enterprises in Vietnam and disseminate skills to improve investment promotion at the local level.
Mr. Sung Wook Cha spoke at the Conference
Speaking at the conference, Mr. Tim Koo - Founder & CEO of Normsun Consulting Vietnam,shared about the concerns of Chinese and Hong Kong investors when investing in Vietnam. According to Mr. Koo, Vietnam is expected to become an increasingly attractive destination for Chinese and Hong Kong investors, especially in area ssuch as manufacturing and processing, real estate and wholesale/retail. He then shared about the importance of understanding the trends and expectations of investors from China, thereby building a suitable strategy to attract them to invest in Vietnam. He also introduced Normsun and Allinial - with the function of providing professional investment advice and orientation, bringing many values suitable for the business goals of foreign enterprises in Vietnam.Finally, Mr. Koo gave recommendations for developing and operating industrial park real estate projects, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive andin-depth strategy to attract and retain investors from China and Hong Kong.
Mr. Tim Koo spoke at the Conference
Within the framework of the conference, Mr. Vu Cong Tru, General Director of Vietnam Solution Investment Joint Stock Company, shared that industrial park real estate is a potential investment field with many different characteristics compared to other types of real estate. To effectively attract foreign investment, it is necessary to have a suitable development strategy and business plan. The development strategy of industrial park real estate includes determining the project development concept, making a detailed business plan,building an effective implementation system and apparatus, providing diverse utility services and supporting investors. In this way, Vietnam can attract foreign investment in this field, promote economic development and enhance national competitiveness, at the same time it is necessary to improve the legal system, improve the quality of human resources and develop traffic infrastructure.
![]()