High-quality FDI attraction is inevitable
Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements during 30 years of renewal have been due largely to FDI. Reviewing 30 years of FDI attraction, experts say Vietnam needs better policies to address shortcomings. With global economy rapidly changing, FDI shrinking, and non-traditional investment rising, Vietnam needs to revise its strategy on FDI attraction. The trade war between the US and China and the emergence of protectionism and anti-liberalization of multilateral trade have changed the trend of global investment.
The 4th Industrial Revolution is affecting all aspects of the socio-economic development, changing production organization, service supply, and business, consumption, and communication methods around the world. All these factors are forcing Vietnam to change its ways of attracting FDI - promoting green growth and economic restructuring, increasing links between SOEs, conserving energy and natural resources, and reducing green house has emission. Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said: "We aim to attract FDI in high-tech industries, clean and renewable energy, high-end tourism, high-tech and smart agriculture, developing modern technical infrastructure, and the new sectors that can take advantage of the 4th Industrial Revolution.”
Specific measures
Vietnam plans to fine-tune its mechanism and improve competitiveness to attract high-quality FDI in line with the national socio-economic development strategy, advances of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and changes in international investment flows. The State is working on incentives to put Vietnamese enterprises on a par with foreign enterprises. Vietnam has been changing its production methods and promoting the use of AI in all economic sectors. Michael Kelly is President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam: "AmCham will soon be working in close coordination on the 22 million dollar SME program. That will be helping inaugurate Vietnamese companies into the global value chain. Programs like this only help foreign investors find good partners but they also help to develop Vietnam’s economy from the top to the bottom. As we look to the next 30 years, we see that Vietnam offers great opportunities. AmCham will continue to work on lowering barriers to trade to help the Vietnamese government to make it easier to do business and to create a high standard, transparent and stable business environment to ensure that our business and all people have access to this opportunity."
Vietnam has improved its human resources and boosted training to create high quality technical experts and managers. Vietnamese enterprises are being urged to improve their management capacity and production control, secure stable input sources and take a leading role in the support industry.