Seize post-crisis opportunities to attract FDI: experts

HCMC – Several experts at a seminar in HCMC on Thursday called participants’ attention to the opportunities in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, saying Vietnam is having good advantages to attract foreign direct investment in tough times. As the global economy has now entered the initial stage of recovery, there has appeared a good chance to draw FDI, especially from the U.S. and Japan, they said at the “Vietnam Economy: Opportunities and Challenges after the Global Financial Crisis” seminar. “The recovery is just in the initial step,” Pham Do Chi, an economic expert, told the seminar organized by Dau Tu newspaper and the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises. The world economy is still in difficulty, but “this is also an opportunity for Vietnam to grasp,” he said. Nguyen Cong Ai, deputy general director of KPMG in Vietnam, agreed on the existing global difficulty, and shared Chi’s view that the difficult time would also present a good opportunity for Vietnam to attract foreign investors, especially from the U.S. As a consulting firm catering to investors, Ai noted how foreign investors were still showing interest in Vietnam. “Some U.S. enterprises realized difficulties in their own economy, so they have landed in other countries like China, India and Vietnam for investment or outsourcing to reduce their business costs,” he said. In this scenario, Vietnam has its own advantages, Ai said. “In China, the investment costs are increasing strongly lately, so it is not a good choice for investors,” he said. Meanwhile, Vietnam is as a good destination owing to political stability and fast-growing economy, he commented. He said some American investors of late have come to KPMG for consultancy about Vietnam. Meanwhile, Nguyen Tri Dung, who has assisted many Japanese enterprises to invest in Vietnam in recent years, said some big Japanese enterprises were also showing keen interest in Vietnam’s fast economic growth. “When given good conditions, many more Japanese investors will come to Vietnam, especially big corporations,” he said. Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, suggested fine-tuning on the part of Vietnam to attract good FDI only. He remarked the FDI flow into the country continued increasing, but “Vietnam needs to have better control and should reject projects with outdated technology and using unskilled labor.” He warned against those projects finding their way into Vietnam after being rejected by China. Mai also urged the country to speed up infrastructure construction, accelerate administrative reform and develop the human resource to attract multinational corporations. To attract hi-tech projects, he said, the country needs high-quality labor force and an adequate system of socio-technical infrastructure to meet foreign investors’ requirements.