Vietnam was able to report strong foreign investment attraction results for the whole 2023 on the back of efforts to improve the domestic investment climate.

Despite relatively poor performance in the first half of the year, foreign direct investment (FDI) figures were up by almost one-third for the whole of 2023.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as much as $36.61 billion in FDI was registered as of December 20, up 32.1 per cent on-year. Realised FDI rose 3.5 per cent from a year ago to hit $23.18 billion, a record level.

Among this, newly registered capital surged by 62 per cent on-year to reach $20.2 billion. The number of newly registered projects was 3,188, up 56.6 per cent. There were just over 1,260 projects (up 14 per cent on-year) bringing in investment capital with total additional capital of $7.88 billion, down 22.1 per cent.

The value of capital contribution and share purchase deals, whose total number reached over 3,450, climbed by 65.7 per cent to $8.5 billion.

The results come from initiatives in investment promotion activity at the central level. In recent years during business trips to other countries, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung makes a point of visiting the headquarters of huge companies to carry out investment promotion directly.

“Countries are competing very fiercely. Therefore, to seize the shifting investment capital flows, we must closely work with every investor and every project, and drastically advance investment promotion to urge and motivate foreign investors to make decisions soon. Otherwise, they will miss out on the opportunities,” Minister Dung has said at various events.

At the end of December after a business trip to Japan with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Minister Dung travelled to South Korea to visit and work with Samsung at Samsung Digital City, and SK Group’s chip factories, liquefied hydrogen, and liquefied natural gas power plants.

During a trip by PM Chinh to the United States in September, numerous bilateral and investment promotion activities took place, and many cooperation agreements were signed with US tech giants. Particularly, the PM visited the HQ of semiconductor company Nvidia and invited its president Jensen Huang to Vietnam. Less than three months later, Huang arrived and opened up a new chapter in cooperation with Vietnam in AI and semiconductors, acknowledging that it would establish a legal entity in Vietnam soon.

At a local level, many localities focus on reforming administrative procedures to improve the quality of the business and investment environment, ensure healthy and equal competitiveness, and boost transparency. In particular, localities pay special attention to shortening handling time, simplifying dossier components, and standardising administrative procedures directly related to investment and business activities.

The northern province of Quang Ninh is one example. It has made an impression with investors thanks to speedy licensing for projects. In June last year, Foxconn’s two new projects in the province were granted investment certificates just 12 working hours after the company submitted an online application, instead of the typical two weeks.

These expansions raised the total number of its projects in the province to three, with the total registered capital of more than $383 million, accounting for about one-tenth of Foxconn’s investment scale in Vietnam.

Hoang Trung Kien, director of Quang Ninh Economic Zones Management Authority, said, “While preparing registration documents, the board and relevant departments also supported the investor. After the documents were completed, the issuance of certificates for the two projects was conducted quickly, creating confidence for Foxconn and other businesses who have chosen and will choose Quang Ninh to invest in,” Kien said.

Thanks to non-stop effort and initiative, many localities have attracted large-scale foreign investors to set up manufacturing hubs, and 2023 was the first year that Nghe An, Hai Duong, and Thai Binh provinces each attracted over $1 billion in investment.

Vietnam Investment Review