Among the total, $123.6 million were poured in 23 new projects while the rest was invested in five existing projects.
Laos accounted for 53.5 percent of Vietnam’s total overseas investment
|
It was followed by manufacturing and processing which received $19.9 million, or 13.3 percent of the total investment capital in the quarter.
The other fields were retails and wholesales with seven projects worth $8.5 million, or 8 percent of the total, and accommodation, dinning, communications, construction, freighting and storehouse.
The Vietnamese businesses invested in 16 countries and territories in the reviewed time, with Laos leading the list by accounting for 53.5 percent of total investment, followed by Cambodia, 17.3 percent, Cuba, 13.3 percent, and Australia 8 percent, reported the Foreign Investment Agency.
Vietnamese firms invested almost $21.4 billion into 1,188 projects across 70 countries and territories as of January 2017, FIA reported.
Of the total, $5.12 billion and $2.89 billion, respectively, was invested in 270 and 191 projects in the two neighboring countries – Laos and Cambodia. Other investment destinations include Russia and Africa.
The majority of Vietnamese investment went to the sectors of agro-forestry-fishery, telecommunication, mining and healthcare services.
Doan Thanh Nghi, deputy head of the overseas investment desk of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said the government had worked to facilitate domestic investors to move beyond borders.
Accordingly, the policy on overseas investment regulates that projects under VND800 billion ($35.1 million) and not in the group of conditional investment sectors can obtain investment licenses within 15 days without submission for approval of the Nation Assembly (NA) or the prime minister. It will take three days for projects to get approval from NA or Prime Minister to receive license certificates.
Licensing procedures, meanwhile, have been simplified and can be done online.
Conditional investment projects are those with impact on national defense-security, social order and safety, ecological environment, education and training, among others.
However, to gain success in the overseas markets, experts have urged Vietnamese businesses to comply with established laws and attach special attention to environmental protection and corporate social responsibility when investing abroad, considerations that are all said to be vital for sustainable investment.
According to Dau Anh Tuan, Head of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)’s Legal Department, firms need to have reliable sources of information to make careful preparation for their overseas investment projects.
Firms should not only comply with laws but also focus on corporate social responsibility and environment protection to shift towards sustainable values, he said.
According to Nghi, information exchanges must be improved together and the transparency and stability of the business climate must be enhanced to promote Vietnamese investments abroad.
In addition, the negotiation and signing of bilateral and multilateral cooperation agreements must be sped up to create favorable investment conditions.
According to a last year’s research of Oxfam Vietnam, there were a number of bottlenecks in implementing investment projects in Laos and Cambodia, such as issues related to land ownership, labor and conflicts in compensation as well as difficulties in contacting local authorities. Policies and instructions to encourage Vietnamese firms therefore should pay attention to CSR when investing overseas.
Countries which received investments should develop a database with regular updates to provide reliable information to investors, according to the research.
