VN pledges favourable environment for Korean investors: NA Chairwoman
VN pledges favourable environment for Korean investors: NA Chairwoman
Viet Nam pledged to develop effective policies and create the most favourable environment for foreign investors, in general, and those from the Repulic of Korea (RoK), in particular, to successfully do business in Viet Nam, National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said.
Ngan stressed this while speaking at the Viet Nam – RoK Trade and Investment conference in Seoul on Friday – the final day of the Vietnamese legislator’s four-day official visit to the RoK.
The conference, co-organised by the Viet Nam Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Vietnamese Embassy to RoK and the Korea Chamber of Commerce, was also attended by the Speaker of the RoK National Assembly Moon Hee-sang together with hundreds of firms from the two countries.
Ngan urged businesses to bring into play advantages in the co-operation between Viet Nam and the RoK and contribute to deepening the relationship between the two countries.
“Our doors are always open to Korean firms to do business in Viet Nam. Your success is our success,” Ngan said.
“Viet Nam is committed to building a business-friendly environment following international standards,” Ngan said, adding that the country’s ecomic restructuring was focusing on three pillars - public investment, State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and credit institutions -together with three strategic breakthroughs in the development of the market economy, high-quality human resources and infrastructures to create room for private and foreign companies to enhance cooperation for development.
The investment climate in Viet Nam was improving and becoming attractive to foreign investors as the country was now a member of 10 free trade agreements together with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union – Viet Nam FTA that take effect soon, she said.
The country was also striving to enhance national competitiveness in the global value chain and promote links between the private and FDI sectors.
Ngan said Viet Nam was considering policies to attract foreign investment in processing and manufacturing, parts supplies, new materials, agriculture-food processing, IT, energy, infrastructure development, the environment, smart cities, healthcare, high-quality services and the privatisation of SOEs.
Ngan appreciated the RoK government’s New Southern Policy aimed at promoting peace and common prosperity.
RoK is now the largest investor in Viet Nam with total registered capital of US$62.2 billion, according to statistics from the Viet Nam Foreign Investment Agency.
With regards to trade, Ngan said that Viet Nam expected the RoK to continue to create conditions for the entry and export expansion of Vietnamese products such as farm produce, garments, wood and electronics products, adding that Viet Nam was willing to import products including electronic components and parts.
This is an effort to boost bilateral trade between Viet Nam and RoK to $100 billion by 2020. A memorandum of understanding on action plan to leverage bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2020 was signed between the Viet Nam Ministry of Industry and Trade and RoK Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in Seoul on Thursday.
“Viet Nam and the RoK are significant trade partners with export products rarely conflicting,” Ngan said.
Two-way trade reached $64 billion last year.
Speaker Moon Hee-sang said that he expected both Vietnamese and Korean firms to actively promote economic co-operation to contribute to the prosperous development of the two countries in particular and Asia in general.
He said that RoK would create favourable conditions for the operation of firms from the two countries.
He stressed that Viet Nam was the leading partner of RoK in many sectors, adding that half of Korean firms investing in ASEAN were operating in Viet Nam.
At the conference, Korean firms showed interest in the privatisation of Vietnamese SOEs via mergers and acquisitions, renewable energy, the environment, infrastructure, finance and banking.
After the conference, Ngan received representatives of several Korean economic groups, including CJ, Lotte, VN One and the Korea Federation of SMEs. Ngan said she expected Korean firms to continue to expand their investment in Viet Nam, especially in smart cities, tourism, transport infrastructure development, logistics and education services.
Korean firms said they wished to invest long-term in Viet Nam, and expand production and operations to contribute to the development of Viet Nam.
During the forum, Vietjet also announced that the airline would launch its new international route connecting Phu Quoc island in southern Kien Giang Province with Seoul later this month.
