Notable Improvements in Vietnam Investment Law 2014 | ANT Lawyers

 Vietnam Investment Law 2014 taking effect from July 1st, 2015, replaces the Investment Law 2005 with notable improvements, especially the provisions on business registration in investment projects which foreign investors making investment in Vietnam or setting up business in Vietnam are welcome.

The new Vietnam Investment Law in 2014 has brought up the concept of “business investments” to replace the previous two concepts as “direct investment” and “indirect investment”.

Under the Investment Law 2005, prohibited investment sectors are generally and broadly defined i.e. detrimental to defense and security, national interests which are vague concepts subject to arbitrary explanation of the Vietnam State authorities. The prohibited business activities in the new regulations are listed down specifically. This change has been considered as a huge development which confirm that the foreign investors have the right to conduct investment in Vietnam in the segments not prohibited by law. The new law specifies 267 conditional investment areas which clearly define the restrictions in one document instead of referring to various laws. This shall also avoid different interpretations of the legal enforcement and application of the laws in Vietnam.

According to the Vietnam Investment Law 2005, regardless of the proportion of foreign invested capital, all projects involving foreign ownership are subject to investment certificate. Under the new law, only the projects of foreign investors or enterprises with foreign investment capital contributed 51% of charter capital or more must apply for new registration certificate for the project investment of foreign investment. This is a big step to attract and encourage investment for foreign investors investing in Vietnam through reducing the amount of administrative formalities which foreign investors had to go through.

We help clients overcome cultural barriers and achieve their strategic and financial outcomes, while ensuring the best interest rate protection, risk mitigation and regulatory compliance. ANT lawyers have Attorneys in Hanoi, Attorneys in Ho Chi Minh and Attorneys in Danang.

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RCEP Helps Vietnam Accelerate Investment Attraction | ANT Consulting

 Together with ASEAN countries, Vietnam absolutely have the opportunity to become a hub to attract foreign investment in Vietnam, especially from countries participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Finally, the RCEP was signed after 8 years of negotiations. Although it still has to wait a while for the 15 member countries, including 10 ASEAN member countries and 5 partners (including China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand) to approve, the assessment of the impact of the RCEP on the Vietnamese economy has been repeatedly confirmed.

The rules of origin procedures in RCEP bring significant advantages to Vietnam, whose economy is heavily dependent on imported materials. Vietnam is having a large trade deficit from Korea, China on raw materials for export production and it is always difficult for the origin of goods when exporting to many major markets around the world.

With RCEP, it is reported that Vietnamese enterprises can more easily access raw materials from member countries to produce export goods. For example, it is possible to import electronic chips from Japan and Korea; imported raw materials for textile and leather from China, then produced domestically and exported to other countries, at the same time satisfying the rules of origin within the bloc to take advantage of tariff preferences.

Not only with Vietnam, experts also agreed that RCEP is a favorable opportunity for all countries to participate in restructuring, repositioning supply chains and participating in global value chains. With RCEP, ASEAN is hoping to become the center of the global production chain. If we can do that, the chances for Vietnam are not small.

Vietnam has the opportunity to reshape and better exploit new positions, thereby building up a position in the global supply chain map. Of course, there will be an opportunity to attract investment. RCEP can help Vietnamese companies expand their markets, join regional supply chains and attract foreign investment.

Among the remaining 14 RCEP member countries, most are major investment partners of Vietnam. Even in the list of 10 countries and territories with large investment in Vietnam, there are 6 partners from RCEP. In which, the largest is Korea (70.38 billion USD), followed by Japan (59.89 billion USD), Singapore (55.7 billion USD), China (18 billion USD), Malaysia (12.8 billion USD), Thailand (12.5 billion USD).

Even without RCEP, foreign investment capital from these countries is still pouring into Vietnam, especially when Vietnam is the focus of attention of international investors, when investment flows are changing during Covid-19 period.

Currently, China, Japan, Korea and even Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia are speeding up investment abroad to expand production and supply chains. Vietnam is a safe and attractive destination. The opportunity to speed up investment attraction from RCEP member countries will be greater for Vietnam, especially when Vietnam is building many outstanding mechanisms and policies to catch the shifting investment inflows.

But with RCEP, the story is not just the investments between RCEP members. The prosperity, large market size of the RCEP bloc will also make it become the focus of global investors.

When proposing to negotiate RCEP, ASEAN countries also want to create a favorable environment to connect economies, creating opportunities for enhancing production capacity towards the goal of building ASEAN into a dynamic and unique economic region in terms of production and market.

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The Wave of New Technology Companies Wants to Choose Vietnam as The Destination | ANT Consulting

 After the wave of technology companies pouring capital into Vietnam 10 years ago, there seems to be a wave of new technology companies wanting to choose Vietnam as their destination.

Last weekend, LG (Korea) went to Dong Nai to seek investment opportunities in items related to digital transformation and building smart cities in this province. According to representatives of LG, the Group is cooperating with a number of major corporations in the world to produce and supply 4.0 technology to deploy large smart city projects for some countries around the world.

Dong Nai is implementing smart city project, so LG Group wants to participate in some categories, such as smart industrial parks, smart transportation, smart health care, smart factories, smart logistics… Funding to implement a smart city is about 15,000 – 20,000 billion VND.

Even as LG, after making its mark with the production complex of electronics, home electronics in Hai Phong (including 3 factories LG Electronics, LG Display, LG Innotek), at the end of last year, also set the ambition to make Da Nang become the Group’s information technology research and development (R&D) center in Vietnam. And now, although the information is not very specific, there is also a new investment direction.

The fact that Vietnam is promoting digital transformation has also attracted special attention from Taiwanese businesses. According to PwC’s research has just been published, the importance of Vietnam for Taiwanese businesses has increased from 18% in 2018 to 24% by the end of 2020 and ranked 4th, after the US, Japan and China.

According to Taiwanese PwC, the fact that the Vietnamese Government is actively focusing on promoting digital transformation will almost be a free ‘preferential’ policy for all foreign businesses to invest in Vietnam. Because, the impact of digital transformation not only helps reduce production costs, but also promotes efficiency and business performance here.

About 2 weeks ago, the leaders of Bac Giang province had a meeting to discuss with departments and branches to push up the clearance progress of Quang Chau Industrial Park (Viet Yen, Bac Giang). This industrial park has a total area of 426 hectares, but currently only 336 hectares have been cleared ground, the remaining 90 hectares have not.

Under the direction of the Vice Chairman of Bac Giang Provincial People’s Committee, the People’s Committee of Viet Yen district must focus highly on the work of site clearance for the remaining area, ensure early handover to the investor, even consider this is the top priority task.

It is easy to understand why Bac Giang province is so impatient. Provincial leaders want to soon hand over the entire premises of this project so that they can “welcome strategic investors”. The details have not been disclosed, but it is most likely related to the Foxconn Group’s investment expansion project that is about to be deployed in this industrial park. And most likely, this is the project that has been mentioned for a long time – 270 million USD, producing smart TV for a famous brand.

Meanwhile, Luxshare Group, after investing in building a factory in Van Trung Industrial Park, is also implementing another project in this industrial park, with an investment of 190 million USD. According to Luxshare-ICT Van Trung General Director, this new factory specializes in manufacturing all kinds of wireless headsets (bluetooth), smartwatches and bluetooth speakers.

In addition to the factories in Bac Giang, Luxshare is also in the process of expanding its investment in a factory in Nghe An. Meanwhile, Wistron Group has invested 273 million USD project in Ha Nam, while Pegatron Group has invested 2 projects 500 million USD in Hai Phong.

Looking at this angle, it seems that there is a next wave of investment in the high-tech sector pouring into Vietnam. In a report titled “Rising Star: The Role of Vietnam in Transforming Supply Chains in Asia”, according to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Vietnam is still an interesting option for manufacturing operations and those looking to diversify supply chains in Asia.

According to the EIU, high-tech manufacturers will continue to receive incentives for many years to come and that is an advantage, so that along with other advantages, for example joining many trade agreements, Vietnam will become “a very convenient alternative name for a part of Chinese production”.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

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What Are Regulations on Debt Trading Contracts in Vietnam?

Along with the development of socio-economic activities, right to collect debt has become an asset right, hence its transferability is also recognized. Vietnam law recognizes debt as a commodity that can be traded through a debt trading contract. However, in order for the debt trading contract to be legally valid and ensure the rights and obligations are enforced, the parties need to pay attention to the provisions on the debt trading contract.

Firstly, in terms of the right to enter into a debt trading contract, according to the provisions of the Civil Code on the sale and purchase of property rights, the property right is the right to claim debt in Vietnam. Accordingly, the right to recover debt becomes the subject of a contract that the parties can transfer as if it were a special type of property. In addition, the debt trading contract aims to transfer ownership of the right of debt recovery and at the same time transfer the debt seller’s obligations to the debt purchaser. This is a transaction that does not affect the interests of the debtor totally. Therefore, the transfer of the right to demand does not require the consent of the obligor, whereby the parties can enter into a debt trading contract without the consent of the debtor.

Secondly, in terms of the form of the debt trading contract, based on the provisions of law prescribing debt trading contract by credit institutions and foreign bank branches, debt trading contract is a written agreement on the transfer of the right to collect debt for a debt arising from a lending operation, payment on behalf of the guarantee, whereby the debt seller transfers ownership of the debt to the debt purchaser and receives payment from the debt purchaser. Therefore, the debt trading contract must be made as a written document.

Furthermore, the debt trading contract must be signed by the legal representative or the authorized representative of the debt purchase and sale parties. Therefore, according to this provision, the debt trading contract does not require the parties to be notarized or authenticated. If necessary, the parties can agree on the notarization or authentication of the debt trading contract. In addition, the parties can make an agreement that the contract can be made in a foreign language and the parties need to consent on which language of the contract will be used in case of a dispute arisen. In addition, in case the debt purchaser and debt seller are organizations with legal status, in addition to the legal representative to sign, the contract needs to be stamped. These are strict regulations on the established form to ensure the legality of the contract’s form.

Thirdly, when drafting a debt trading contract, it must contains the following principal contents: (i) Time for signing the debt trading contract; (ii) Names and addresses of the parties to the debt trading contract; (iii) Name and title of the representative of the parties to the debt trading contract; (iv) Name and address of the debtor and related parties (if any) to the purchased or sold debt; (v) Details of debt purchased and sold: Loan amount, loan period, purpose, book value of the debt up to the time of debt purchase and sale; (vi) Security measures for the debtor’s payment obligation for the purchased or sold debt (if any); (vii) Debt selling price, payment method, payment term; (viii) Time, method and procedures for transferring debt documents and records, including dossiers and documents on debt security (if any); The time the debt purchaser becomes the subrogator, the debt seller has obligations; (ix) Rights and obligations of debt sellers and debt buyers; (x) Liability of the parties for breach of contract; (xi) Settlement of arising disputes. These are the basic and mandatory contents of a debt trading contract. In addition, the parties can make agree on other contents in the debt trading contract that are not contrary to the provisions of the laws.

In addition, during the implementation of the debt trading contract, the law allows the parties to agree to amend, supplement or cancel the content of the debt trading contract. However, the decision to amend, supplement or cancel must be based on ensuring compliance with the provisions of law.

Therefore, the establishment of a debt trading contract in Vietnam is basically the same as other property rights transfer transactions. However, debt is a special object of property rights, therefore the parties need to strictly comply with the provisions of law on the content and form of the contract to ensure the legality of the contract as well as the rights and obligations of the parties. It is suggested to engage lawyers with specialization in debt recovery and dispute resolution to assist drafting or reviewing debt trading contract for its effective usage.

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Sport Betting in Vietnam

Law on amendments to Physical Training and Sports No. 26/2018/QH14 is in valid as of February 1st, 2019. The highlight that must be noted is sports betting as provided in Article 67a. This activity is officially governed by laws. Sports betting is a form of entertainment with rewards in which bettors predict the results of sporting events used for betting purpose.

The sports betting has a long history, but it had not been recognized by the State for a long time. Therefore, the betting was considered a violation of laws and was liable to administrative and criminal remedies. Before sports betting is restricted and just allowed to bet on horse racing, greyhound racing and pilot international soccer as specified in the Decree 06/2017/ND-CP effective from March 31st, 2017 on business of betting on horse racing, greyhound racing and international soccer. After the amendment law takes effect, the sports are allowed to bet will be extended according to the List of sports activities allowed to trade in betting issued by the Government.

What Conditions Required for Sports Betting?

Relating to condition of sports betting business in Vietnam, the enterprises need to be granted a certificate of eligibility for betting business. This is one of the conditional business lines under the strict management.

Regarding horse racing and greyhound racing, the enterprises need to obtain the Certificate of investment registration for the project for construction of horse and/or greyhound racecourses and the Certificate of eligibility for betting business. For horseracing, the charter capital requirement is VND 1 trillion ($44.2 million), while for greyhound racing it is VND 300 billion ($13.2 million). Locations of horse and/or greyhound racecourses are conformable to the socio-economic development planning of the area where such racecourses are located. Therefore, if the project attracts more than one investor, the investor for the project for the construction of horse racecourses and/or greyhound racecourses which covers the business of betting on horse racing and/or greyhound racing shall be selected through bidding process according to law.

Regarding international soccer, the procedures is similar to horse racing and greyhound racing. However, The Government allows one enterprise to pilot the business of betting on international soccer. The duration of pilot international soccer betting business shall be 05 years since the date on which the Certificate of eligibility for international soccer betting business is issued. After such period, the Government shall consider whether or not to continue the pilot international soccer betting business upon the assessment of the collected results. The list of international football matches and tournaments which are selected to provide the basis for the business of betting on international football is stipulated in the Decision No. 1064/QĐ-BVHTTDL issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Which Authorities Will Approve the Sports Betting Activities?

The Ministry of Finance will publicize the conditions, dossiers, procedures for organizing bidding to select enterprises to pilot international football betting business according to the provisions of law. To be able to participate in bidding, the enterprises need to meet the following conditions:

(1) The minimum charter capital shall be VND 1 trillion ($44.2 million)or an equivalent amount;

(2) Having a plan on investment in the technological system, technical equipment and business software to ensure their accurate, safe and stable operation;

(3) There shall be a feasible plan on the business of betting on international soccer and ticket selling methods and locations;

(4) Committing to community assistance.

There are 135 countries in the world officially legalizing sports betting activities. Betting is increasingly on the rise, along with the development of information technology and entertainment. In Vietnam, sports betting is put under the strict management.

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What Procedures an Enterprise Complies on Publishing Business Information?

Provisions on announcing of business information are stipulated in the Law on Enterprise and other decrees which company has to comply as part of compliance procedures.

After being granted an enterprise registration certificate, under the Enterprise Law, an enterprise must publicly announce it on the National Business Registration Portal according to the order, procedures and pay fees as required. The application for publication of enterprise registration information is a compulsory procedure, made at the time an enterprise submits its enterprise registration dossier. Information about publication of enterprise registration information is posted on the National Business Registration Portal. The content to be published includes the contents on the enterprise registration certificate and the lines of business. In addition, for joint stock companies with foreign investors, a list of founding shareholders and foreign investors is required. In case of changes in enterprise registration contents, the corresponding changes must be publicly announced on the National Business Registration Portal.

Provisions on form, time and content of announcement are different from those in the Law on Enterprise, specifically, within a period of thirty days from the date of being granted an enterprise registration certificate, an enterprise must publish information in one of the forms posted on the business information network of the business registration agency or one of the written or electronic newspapers in three consecutive issues. The main content to be published includes: Company’s name; Address of the head office of the enterprise, branch or representative office; Lines of business; Charter capital of limited liability company and partnership company; number of shares and value of contributed capital and number of shares to be issued with joint stock company; initial investment capital for private enterprises; legal capital for enterprises conducting lines of business requiring legal capital; Full name, address, nationality, ID card number, passport or other legal personal identification number, establishment decision number or business registration code of the owner, member or shareholder foundation; Full name, permanent address, nationality, ID card number, passport number or other legal personal identification of the legal representative of the enterprise; Place of business registration.

For publication fees, according to the provisions of Circular no. 47/2019/TT-BTC stipulating the rates, collection, payment, management and use of information provision charges of enterprise information that takes effect from the date of On September 20, 2019, the enterprise registration fee and the enterprise registration content announcement fee are VND 100,000/time, instead of the VND 300,000/time as stipulated in Circular no. 215/2016/TT-BTC regulating the rates, collection, remittance, management and use of charges for provision of enterprise information and enterprise registration fees.

In addition, there are some enterprises that do not need to publish their business information on the National Business Registration Portal before going into operation, but make other forms of announcement. For example, for a law-practicing organization, within thirty days after being granted operation registration papers, law-practicing organizations must publish on daily newspapers of central or local registry of law practice or newspaper for three consecutive issues. For credit institutions, foreign bank branches, representative offices of foreign credit institutions and other foreign institutions engaged in banking activities, they must be published on the State Bank’s media, and in a daily newspaper written in 03 consecutive issues or an electronic newspaper of Vietnam at least thirty days prior to the scheduled date of operation of opening information as prescribed in Article 25 of the Law on Credit Institutions 2010.

In addition to disclosing corporate information, there is also a procedure for disclosure of information on the stock market that is applicable to public companies and bond issuers (except for government bond issuers and bonds), government-guaranteed bonds and local government bonds), securities companies, fund management companies, branches of foreign fund management companies in Vietnam, public funds. These companies and organizations must comply with the law on securities in the Securities Law announcing on the company’s website and information disclosure system of the State Securities Commission.

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Quang Binh Calls for Investment in 48 Projects

According to Chairman of Quang Binh Provincial People’s Committee – Mr Nguyen Huu Hoai, the provincial People’s Committee has just issued a decision to call for investment in 48 projects in the fields of industry, agriculture, tourism, services and trade… in the period from 2018 to 2020.

Accordingly, the People’s Committee of Quang Binh province has approved the list of projects calling for investment with the total capital of more than 50,000 billion VND in the period of 2018 – 2020. The decision was issued by the province on June 5th, listing 48 projects calling for investment with a total land area of 8,000 hectares.

In the above 48 projects, there are 17 projects in the field of tourism, services and trade: including 6 coastal resort projects, 8 ecological resort projects, 3 commercial center projects, with a total investment of over 37,000 billion VND, the land area for the projects is over 1,500 ha. For such projects as tourism complex, coastal resort and ecotourism and resort complex, Quang Binh province has paid special attention to and dedicated the land fund for each project up to hundreds of hectares.

In the field of industry, Quang Binh province has listed 5 projects calling for investment, including: Quang Binh wind power development; Quang Binh solar power development; factory manufacturing and assembling electrical appliances, electronics, telecommunications and industry; factory producing energy saving lighting equipment and factory producing components and assembling cars… with the total investment capital of over 8,000 billion VND.

In addition, Quang Binh province also approved invitations to invest in 8 agricultural projects; 3 projects in the field of health and training; 8 residential and urban infrastructure projects and 5 industrial zone infrastructure projects. These projects are highly valued to attract investors to this locality.

According to the head of the Quang Binh Government, together with the approval of the plan to call for investment in the period 2018 – 2020, Quang Binh province also strengthens the direction of the functional units, localities in the province to urgently build content of project information. Quang Binh province is committed to providing the best support to investors when coming to this locality based on the available resources that Quang Binh is considered to be very rich.

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Attraction from Industrial Parks in Phu Yen

Phu Yen is gradually moving its economic structure from a purely agricultural province to industry, tourism and services. In order to achieve this goal, thousands of hectares of industrial parks have been prepared, along with infrastructure investment with full facilities to attract projects and foreign investor to invest in Vietnam and in Phu Yen province.

In May 1974, at the An Phu Industrial Zone in Tuy Hoa, Phu Yen province, the electronic component factory was kicked off, marking the presence of the high-tech industry in Phu Yen. This is the first electronic component factory to be built in Phu Yen, with capacity of 500 million pieces per year, with such main products as RF coils and electromagnets. Total investment for the factory is over 5.7 million USD, 100% of products will be exported. The establishment of a factory in Phu Yen province is part of Coilcraft Corporation’s production development in Asia.

Vice Chairman of Phu Yen People’s Committee welcomed the Coilcraft Corporation for investing in Phu Yen, contributing significantly to the socio-economic development and the industrialization and modernization process of the province. At the same time, it is suggested that the Management Board of Phu Yen Economic Zone and investors continue to have connections and promote the industrial potential of Phu Yen to other investors.

The appearance of electronic component factory invested in An Phu Industrial Park, besides the glass production factories of Hoang Hai Trading Co., Tan Phat Canned Food Joint Stock Company and the project of CCIPY Vietnam limited liability company., as well as bottled water , soft water plants, and seafood processing plants (in Hoa Hiep 1 Industrial Park) of Xin Bang Co., Ltd have made the investment situation in Phu Yen’s industrial zones more diverse and exciting.

Besides implementing the policy of economic restructuring towards industrialization, the Party and Phu Yen authorities have made many appropriate policies in order to mobilize internal resources in the province and attract foreign investment. At the same time, completing investment in infrastructure of approved industrial zones and clusters; promote the efficiency of investment and the role of industrial zones and clusters in economic restructuring of the industry, contributing to the economic restructuring of the province.

Currently, Phu Yen province plans to build industrial parks, attracting hundreds of investment projects. In particular, it is concentrated in Hoa Hiep 1 Industrial Park, Hoa Hiep 2, An Phu, North East Song Cau 1 and North East Song Cau 2.

One of the favorable conditions for the management board of Phu Yen economic zone to carry out the plans of promoting and attracting investment in line with the industries and sectors in the industrial parks. That is Phu Yen Provincial Industrial Development Plan up to 2020, with vision to 2030, which has been approved by the provincial People’s Committee.

The plan identifies groups of industries with priority given to development till 2020 with a vision to 2030, including: processing of agricultural, forest and aquatic products; medicine; textile; products from new technology; software industry and digital content; chemistry; energy; electronic equipment, telecommunications equipment and information technology; mechanical engineering; supporting industry.

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New Capital Flows from French Businesses

Opportunities are opening for Vietnam to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) flows from France.

As planned, during the visit to Vietnam of French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe (from November 2nd – 4th), in the afternoon of November 2nd, a series of new cooperation agreements were signed between enterprises of the two countries, to promote bilateral trade and investment cooperation. On November 4th, a business forum will also be held in Ho Chi Minh City, attracting the participation of about 200 businesses from Vietnam and France.

These moves are promising to open new opportunities for cooperation between the two countries’ businesses, which are believed to have great potentials and are on the rise. In fact, in March 2018, after a visit to France of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, a series of new cooperation agreements were signed. Among them, there is an agreement between the T&T Group and the Bouygues Group (France) on investment cooperation of the no.3 urban railway project in Hanoi, with total investment estimated at 1.4 billion USD. The two Groups also signed an agreement on the BT contract (build – transfer) of a project to connect Ha Noi with Son Tay town (Nhon – Troi – Phung – Ring road 4 – Son Tay), cooperate to invest and develop the project of upgrading and expanding Hang Day Stadium…

In addition, there are cooperation contracts between Vietnam Airlines with Air France, Tre Viet (Bamboo Airlines) with Airbus…

In fact, there have been more positive trends in French investment into Vietnam since the beginning of this year. According to data released by the Foreign Investment Agency (Ministry of Planning and Investment), in the first 10 months of this year, French businesses have registered to invest 517 million USD in Vietnam.

France currently ranks in the Top 10 countries and territories with large investments in Vietnam, even ranks 1st among European investors have invested in Vietnam since the beginning of this year. If calculated cumulatively, France has invested in Vietnam 3.6 billion USD, surpassed UK.

When Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was on a trip to Europe, the European Commission (EC) agreed to submit to the European Council for approval to officially sign the European – Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA), expected by the end of 2018, then submitted to the European Parliament for approval, scheduled for early 2019. Once this agreement has been formally adopted, a new door to promoting EU – Vietnam trade and investment will be opened. In this context, investment flows from France are also expected to grow strongly.

At the present, most French investment projects in Vietnam are implemented in the early stages of FDI attraction, such as BNP Paribas, Total, Schneider Electric, Renault, Technip…

Recently, some French investors started to increase their investment in Vietnam. Typical is Auchan with plan to invest 500 million USD to open retail system in Vietnam. Or Schneider Electric, with the inauguration of a new factory in Ho Chi Minh City, with 45 million USD investment capital in Phase I in 2017. In addition, Sanofi has 3 factories in Ho Chi Minh City…

Newer names, such as In Vivo and Olmix, are also boosting their investments in agriculture in Vietnam. EDF Group has been licensed to participate in Son My 1 Gas Power Project. In addition, Saint-Gobain is building a factory in Hai Phong city; Veolia, Suez and Vinci are actively pursuing water treatment projects.

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Hyosung with Billion Dollars Commitments

In a series of large foreign investors in Vietnam, especially Korean investors, the public often refers only to big names such as LG, Samsung…, but not many people knows that Hyosung has invested billions of dollars in Vietnam.

Few days ago, the People’s Committee of Quang Nam province has officially approved the report on the environmental impact assessment of Hyosung’s cloth curtain factory in Tam Thang Industrial Park. This is an important move for Hyosung to soon receive investment registration certificate as well as to implement the project with expected investment capital of 1.34 billion USD.

In October 2018, Hyosung was awarded by the Chairman of the People’s Committee of Quang Nam province an investment plan for the project that they have started to pursue since 2015, in order to expand the market in the central region.

If the project of Hyosung in Quang Nam is soon granted investment registration certificate, it is likely that this Korean corporation will become a foreign investor registering to invest up to 2 billion USD projects in Vietnam this year.

By the end of May 2018, Hyosung invested the Polypropylene (PP) manufacturing factory and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage tank in Ba Ria – Vung Tau with investment capital of over 1.2 billion USD. As planned, Hyosung will build a liquefied petroleum gas storage tank with capacity of 240,000 tons in Cai Mep area and use this liquefied petroleum gas to produce polypropylene, ethylene, propylene…

The factory is expected to be built within two years, completed and put into operation by the end of 2020, attracting about 2,000 laborers and contributing to the state budget of about 80 million USD per year.

Thus, this year, Hyosung has committed to invest in Vietnam of more than 2.5 billion USD.

According to Hyosung’s representative, Hyosung has plan to raise investment capital in Vietnam to 6 billion USD and investment fields will include chemical industry, heavy industry and power projects. Hyosung is very interested in power projects in Vietnam, especially the supply of transformers that the Vietnamese market is in great demand.

Like other major Korean corporations, such as Samsung, LG, SK…, Hyosung is gradually turning Vietnam into a major manufacturing base and becoming one of the most attractive investment destinations in the region. If the plan to increase investment capital to 6 billion USD becomes reality, Hyosung will become one of the largest foreign investors in Vietnam.

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Wind Power in Vietnam Attracts the Attention of Foreign Investors

Tra Vinh People’s Committee has approved the policy for three investors to implement the Hiep Thanh wind power plant project in the province with a total investment of nearly 3,370 billion VND; of which 20% is contributed by investors, the rest is loan from bank Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg-LBBW, Germany. It shows that Vietnam wind power sector is attracting attention of foreign investors.

The Hiep Thanh wind power plant project will be built on a total area of 2,747 ha in the coastal alluvial land of Hiep Thanh commune, Duyen Hai town (Tra Vinh province) with the design capacity of 78MW, with 18 – 19 wind turbine columns.

Investors implementing the project include Ecotech Vietnam Renewable Energy Joint Stock Company (based in Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi); Janakuasa Pte LTD (Singapore) and Mr Lam Minh (Ba Dinh District, Hanoi). Investors have established Ecotech Tra Vinh Renewable Energy JSC to carry out the project. The duration of the project is 49 years.

According to General Director of Tra Vinh Ecotech Renewable Energy Joint Stock Company, the project was included in the Power Development Plan for Tra Vinh province in the period 2016 – 2025, with a view to 2035, which was approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on May 19th 2016. Currently the project is implementing investment procedures with the aim of putting into operation in the first quarter of 2020.

Sharing about the wind power price, according to leader of Tra Vinh Ecotech Renewable Energy JSC, the price of wind power is currently approved by the Prime Minister under Decision 37/2011/QD-TTg on the mechanism to support the development of wind power projects in Vietnam and take effect from August 20th 2011 is 7.8 cents/kWh.

According to leader of Tra Vinh Ecotech Renewable Energy JSC, Vietnam is the most potential country in ASEAN in recent years and coming years.

However, with the electricity price of 7.8 cents/kWh in this project, it is difficult to arrange capital, but the company is willing to bet on the project because they believe in the development of the Vietnam economy and want to contribute to the development of power plants in Vietnam. Investors also believe that the Government of Vietnam will study and reconsider bring the price of wind power to a more harmonious level, ensuring equality between renewable energy sources.

Hiep Thanh wind power plant is the fourth wind power project which was granted investment policy in Tra Vinh province. Previously, Tra Vinh province has granted investment certificates for 3 wind power projects, with a total designed capacity of 192 MW, in Truong Long Hoa commune (Duyen Hai town) and Dong Hai commune (Duyen Hai district).

These projects are in the stage of implementing appraisal procedures, approving the basic design… to start the construction. These projects are also in the list of projects calling for investment of Tra Vinh province in the period 2016 – 2020.

According to Tra Vinh wind power development plan up to 2020, with a view to 2030, which was approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on December 4th 2015, Tra Vinh province has planned 6 wind power projects at 6 coastal mudflats of Duyen Hai district and Duyen Hai town; in which there are 3 plants in Truong Long Hoa commune, 2 plants in Hiep Thanh commune and 1 plant in Dong Hai commune.

By 2020, the total installed capacity is about 270MW, the corresponding wind power is 634 million kWh. By 2030, the installed capacity will be about 1,338 MW. Total investment for wind power grid connected projects by 2020 is about 14,313 billion VND.

The wind power development projects will bring many benefits to the socio-economic development of Tra Vinh province such as increasing the local budget from taxes, increasing the electricity supply to create jobs for local workers; create landscapes to attract tourists.

In order to implement Vietnam’s national energy development strategy up to 2020 with a vision to 2050 (promulgated together with Decision No. 1855/QD-TTg, December 27th 2007), Vietnam strives to increase the ratio of new and renewable energy sources to around 5% of primary commercial energy by 2020 and about 11% by 2050.

According to Decision No 1208/QD-TTg dated July 21st 2011 of the Prime Minister on the approval of the Power Plan VII will bring the total wind power capacity from current level to about 1,000 MW in 2020 and around 6,200 MW by 2030. Electricity produced from wind power accounts for 0.7% in 2020 to 2.4% in 2030.

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Vietnam plans to have high tech city built to nurture IT start-up environment

It appears that Vingroup Incorporation is studying the US “Silicon Valley” model to implement VinTech City in Dong Anh (Hanoi). This is the first environment to help nurture the high tech to put into life.

With more than 70 hectares of land in Dong Anh, VinTech City will be fully equipped office buildings, computers and the internet for the companies to start up.

With the target is become a technology corporation in the next 10 years, Vingroup has taken the first steps in this strategy. In particular, the commercial-service field is a financial backbone and provides an ecosystem that supports the research and commercialization of industrial-technology products. The industry segment including automobiles and smart electric- appliances will increase both in terms of production and consumption, towards export.

Technology will be the main driver, and there will be sufficient human resources and infrastructure to research the artificial intelligence, development of new materials and software production.

The plan is to gather high-profile scientists of science and technology as well as foreign experts combined with local researchers. CEO Vingroup said that the corporation has signed with more than 50 universities in the field of science and technology to prepare human resources of 100,000 engineers for the next 10 years.

Vietnam has become attractive to IT development center business ideas and it is expected it will continue to strongly supply high quality programmers to play important role in global IT business.

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Startup in Ho Chi Minh City Will Be as Convenient as in Singapore

A series of specific commitments has been confirmed by HCMC’s Party Secretary Nguyen Thien Nhan to help startup environment in HCMC becoming as favorable as in Singapore.

The city is committed to preparing an industrial park reserved for newly startup and innovative businesses. Secondly, the procedure for setting up company in Ho Chi Minh City will be as good as in Singapore. Third, in addition to private investment, the city will also, on a case-by-case basis, pilot public-private partnerships in support of innovative entrepreneurship.

In addition to the above 3 commitments, according to Mr Nguyen Thien Nhan, HCMC will have a general information page to reflect the creative start-up activities in the area. At the same time, he decided to meet face-to-face with the startup community twice a year to listen to their mind and remove difficulties in time.

In general, in the past year, HCMC has had very specific and significant results in comparison with other provinces in terms of start-up activities. According to director of the Department of Science and Technology of HCMC, this agency has set up 5 spaces to support innovative start-ups and links with 24 business incubators with a total floor area of over 22,000 square meters. Of which, 50% capital is from socialization.

In addition, The SpeedUp 2017 program has provided financial support tools from the budget for innovative startup projects through enterprise incubators. In the past 8 months, this program has received and processed 112 innovative startup project applications. The number of selected projects was 14/112 (12.5%), which is quite high compared to the current selection rate of many investment funds (VIISA reaches 5%, VSVA reaches 8%).

This year, the HCMC Department of Science and Technology has also set up 4 Steering Committee for Innovative Ecosystems for 4 key areas of the city, including mechanics, food processing, plastic – rubber – chemistry and information technology.

With a network of 145 consultants and innovative start-up advisors from many different disciplines, up to now, 938 start-up projects have been connected to help develop business ideas. There are 3,200 individuals and start-up groups connected to investors, experts and consultancy organizations. Moreover, over 300 startup products are promoted to the community.

However, a general assessment from the Department of Science and Technology of the City, most startups in Vietnam are newly invested at the seed stage with small scale and the possibility of breakthrough growth is not high. This is a matter of concern.

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