'Vietnam's economy has many opportunities to surpass Thailand and Indonesia'

On the afternoon of September 7, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung and Governor Le Minh Hung co-chaired an online conference to discuss strategies to optimize investment opportunities in Vietnam after the Covid-19 epidemic. The event was streamed to more than 500 businesses around the world.

Welcoming the flow of investment shift "China + 1"

Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said that although FDI in the world decreased by 40%, in the first 8 months of the year, Vietnam attracted nearly 20 billion USD. In which, newly registered capital increased by 6.6%, expanded and increased capital increased by 22.2%.

"These figures show the special interest of the world market in Vietnam," he said.

In order to welcome capital flows, Vietnam has been preparing many necessary conditions such as preparing land infrastructure, clean ground, energy infrastructure, telecommunications, accelerating the process of training human resources, etc. The goal is to create more favorable and attractive, improve national competitiveness in attracting FDI.

Attracting FDI into Vietnam is still positive in the first months of the year. Photo: Quynh Danh.

However, Minister Dung emphasized that Vietnam will prioritize high-tech projects, new technologies, high added value, and the ability to connect to help Vietnamese businesses participate in the supply chain, global value chain.

General Director of Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam and the Group of 5 Southeast Asia & South Asian countries, Mr. Nirukt Sapru emphasized Vietnam as a gateway for business development into ASEAN. The bank opened a survey and 38% of respondents said they would consider expanding their supply chains in Vietnam. This is the highest rate among ASEAN countries.

Mr. C.K. Tong, General Director of BW Industrial Development JSC, said that Vietnam has been noticed by many investors, regardless of whether there is a Covid-19 epidemic or not. Before the epidemic, many businesses have implemented the China + 1 strategy, that is, shifting the supply chain, diversifying locations to a country other than China.

Production costs are rising in China, while many businesses want to have new markets and production locations, avoiding the risks of trade conflicts and conflicts of interest between major countries.

"Vietnam, whether it has Covid-19 or not, still maintains a favorable position to welcome the China + 1 wave," he said.

Analyzing further, Mr. Tong said that Vietnam has 2 great advantages to welcome the China + 1 wave. Firstly, Vietnam is very close to China, can take advantage of products and raw materials from a country of billions of people. Currently, thanks to economies of scale, raw materials from China are very cheap and Vietnam can take advantage of them.

Minister Nguyen Chi Dung. Photo: MPI.

The second is the similarity between Vietnam and China in terms of culture and labor, diligence and entrepreneurial spirit. Investors will not need much time to adapt if they shift production lines.

Mr. Tong also emphasized that Vietnam has the capacity to produce many complex products with high technology content. The proof is that Samsung is producing the majority of phones in Vietnam, even the latest phone models. There is no doubt that the Vietnamese workforce can produce the most high-end equipment.

"Vietnam's economy will surpass Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines in the coming years," Mr. Tong said.

Focus on infrastructure and education

Governor Le Minh Hung said that Vietnam has applied many monetary policies quickly to support businesses to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic. He also said that in the near future, the SBV will submit to the Government to amend many provisions of the law, in which priority is given to the development of electronic payments, digital banking, etc. to create conditions for both domestic and foreign businesses.

Mr. Soren Bech, General Director of RB Health Vietnam, said that in order to attract investment capital flows, Vietnam still needs to train human resources, especially high-quality human resources. He emphasized that if you want to develop the processing and manufacturing industry, you must have high-quality human resources and good skills, considering this as the key to development.

Experts recommend that Vietnam should continue to invest in education in the coming years. Photo: Hoang Ha.

In particular, it is necessary to give opportunities for workers to learn, acquire skills, and be ready to receive advanced technology from developed countries.

"Education must play the most important role, more investment is needed in education," he said.

Mr. C.K. Tong said that in the coming time, Vietnam should also focus on infrastructure development. He assessed that the Vietnamese Government has done its best in infrastructure development over the years. The system of expressways and roads has been strongly developed, connecting with major airports and harbors. Localities with large resources have been much better connected.

However, infrastructure also needs to be improved more in the South, connecting localities and industrial clusters together. Infrastructure will help take advantage of faster development opportunities for the provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An,...

Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said that Vietnam is developing a development strategy for the next 10 years, in which breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure and human resources continue to be emphasized.

With human resources, Vietnam will focus on training and development before 2030, when the golden population period has also passed, entering the aging phase of the population.

"We will strive for an expected growth rate of 7% per year. The proportion of the processing and manufacturing industry is about 30% of GDP, and the digital economy accounts for 30% of GDP in the coming years," he shared.

~According to Zing~