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

set-up company in Ho Chi Minh City

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 new business in HCMC 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.

ANT Consulting assists clients with Market Entry, Legal Advice, Tax Advice and Outsourcing Services in Vietnam.

We are located in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Talk to our consultants at +84 28 3520 2779 or email us ant@antconsult.vn

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Indian Businesses Consider Vietnam as a New Investment Destination

Vietnam as a New Investment Destination

On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Vietnam – India diplomatic relations and 10 years of strategic cooperation between the two countries, Mr P. Harish, Ambassador of India to Vietnam said that the two countries’ cooperation is very nice, many Indian businesses are considering Vietnam as a new investment destination in the region and choose to set up business in Vietnam.

India and Vietnam relationship have been developing very strongly since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1972. The two countries advanced their relationship into strategic partnership in 2007 and then became comprehensive strategy in September 2016, when the Prime Minister of India visited Vietnam. This cooperation framework includes security, defense, economic and cultural cooperation, high-level delegation exchanges and people-to-people exchanges.

In terms of trade, bilateral trade has increased tenfold, from 1.15 billion USD in fiscal year 2006 – 2007, to 10.1 billion USD in fiscal year 2016 – 2017 (according to Indian data). The two countries’ leaders have set a bilateral trade target of 15 billion USD by 2020. India is among the top 10 trading partners of Vietnam and Vietnam is India’s fifth largest trading partner in ASEAN region.

Regarding investment, Vietnam currently has 136 Indian projects, with a total registered capital of about 1.28 billion USD, including capital from India through third countries, mainly focusing on areas as oil and gas, renewable energy, minerals, agricultural product processing, information technology and automotive components. The latest project of India in Vietnam is the instant coffee processing project of Tata Coffee Company in Binh Duong province, with a total registered capital of 63 million USD.

In order to achieve this goal, Vietnam and India need to work more closely in strengthening the exchange of business delegations and encouraging investment in one another, to promote trade.

In addition, Vietnam and India are expected to strengthen connectivity in aviation and sea line. Expected this year, Vietjet will open direct flights to India. Furthermore, linkage in the banking and finance sectors is also accelerating. Also, India has also strengthened its projects in Vietnam in the areas of human resource development, IT capacity building, English language teaching and science and technology.

With such a multidisciplinary approach, we can realize a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries and explore the potentials of two nations.

ANT Consulting assists clients with Market Entry, Legal Advice, Tax Advice and Outsourcing Services in Vietnam.

We are located in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Talk to our consultants at +84 28 3520 2779 or email us ant@antconsult.vn

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Korea Leads in Foreign Investment into Vietnam

Among foreign investors who have been investing in Vietnam, Korea is leading with the largest amount of capital, and Korean companies are continuing to promote investment in Vietnam as well as set up business in Vietnam.

In the past 25 years, Vietnam – Korea trade has made great strides from  500 million USD in the first years to 60 billion USD today, 120 times higher than in 1992. It is expected that by 2018 this figure will increase to 70 billion USD and 100 billion USD by 2020.

In addition to the accumulated investment of 57 billion USD since 1992, in the last 4 years, Korea has invested into Vietnam 8 billion USD a year. Only in the past 11 months of 2017, the number has reached 8 billion USD. These are enormous numbers. At the same time, the quality of Korean investment capital in Vietnam is also high. This is a very positive signal in the wave of Korean investment into Vietnam.

Korea is currently the leader in foreign direct investment through establishing company in  Vietnam and bringing high technology manufacturing into Vietnam. Typically, Samsung company has set up a research and development center in Bac Ninh, Yen Bai, Thai Nguyen, and has a significant impact on the development of Vietnam’s science and technology.

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Vietnam Asks State-Owned Firms to Sell Foreign Currencies

Jun 02th, 2011, from The Wall Street Journal. HANOI—The State Bank of Vietnam has asked all state-owned firms to sell their foreign currency to banks beginning July 1, part of a plan outlined in February to eliminate the use of foreign money in the domestic market.

The central bank announced the directive Wednesday in a statement on its website. It didn’t provide details on the amount of foreign currency state-owned firms are believed to hold.

The central bank also asked banks to raise their reserve ratio for foreign-currency deposits maturing in less than 12 months to 7%, from 6%. This will raise banks’ costs to absorb dollar deposits and should eventually force them to offer lower interest rates on such deposits, discouraging the public from holding dollars.

Hanoi-based bankers said the latest steps are in line with government efforts to boost the value of the local currency, the dong, and build Vietnam’s foreign-exchange reserves. On Thursday the central bank capped the interest rate offered on individuals’ dollar deposits at 2%—down from the 3% limit set in March—and lowered the cap for corporate accounts to 0.5% from 1%.

These steps come after the dong has lost more than 15% of its value against the U.S. dollar over the past two years. The central bank has devalued the currency four times but still has failed to stop the bleeding.

“Though the government has introduced various measures to control imports, monthly trade deficits have been rising fast so far this year, making the authorities come out with new steps to support the dong’s value and improve foreign reserves,” one executive at a commercial bank said.

According to Nguyen Hai Ha, an analyst with MBCapital, one of Vietnam’s largest fund management groups, the steps will help the central bank meet short-term targets on the reserves and the exchange rate.

In the long run, however, “the dollar is expected to rise because local reserves of the U.S. currency are thin, while trade deficits continue to rise,” the analyst said.

The central bank said companies will be able to buy back dollars later if they need them.

Vietnam’s trade deficit widened to $1.7 billion in May from $1.49 billion in April, its largest monthly deficit since December 2009, government figures showed.

The country’s trade deficit during the January-May period was $6.59 billion, compared with $5.46 billion deficit a year earlier.

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VTG (Canada) Wants to Invest in The Metro Line in Hanoi

On November 22nd, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has met Mr. Richard Courey, President and CEO of Vision Transportation Group (VTG) from Canada to discuss VTG’s plan to invest in Vietnam.

At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung welcomed and highly appreciated the experiences of VTG in the field of transportation infrastructure project development in many countries around the world. According to Deputy Prime Minister, in the current context, Vietnam is advocating the mobilization of social resources to invest in developing infrastructure for socio-economic development. Therefore, the Government always welcome and appreciate the determination of potential international partners who are experienced in investing in infrastructure projects in Vietnam.

VTG has researched and proposed with Hanoi, the Government, ministries and departments to implement the project of urban railway no. 2 connecting Noi Bai airport with the West Lake area in the form of public – private partnership (PPP).

According to research of VTG, this will be the urban railway that is completely feasible in technology and the ability to recover capital, ensuring benefit for investors.

Richard Courey and his colleagues have reported to the Deputy Prime Minister on the idea, method, technology, investment progress of the project, and proposed some recommendations to the Government. Furthermore, he also affirmed that with their reputation and experiences, VTG is fully qualified in professional and financial capacity to successfully implement the project, meeting all the requirements of the Government of Vietnam.

Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister also suggested VTG to study more investment projects to develop infrastructure, especially railway transport infrastructure, including the North-South high-speed railway.

How ANT Consulting Could Help Your Business?

Please click here to learn more about ANT Consulting or contact our lawyers and consultants in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antconsult.vn or call our office at +84 28 3520 2779

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