RoK remains biggest investor in Vietnam

The Republic of Korea (RoK) continued to rank first among the 115 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

Over US$50 billion in investment capital

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency, RoK businesses have so far registered more than 5,500 projects with total capital of over US$50 billion in Vietnam. Vietnam was the fourth largest recipient of the RoK’s foreign investment, behind the US, China and Hong Kong, China. RoK businesses invested US$5.58 billion in Vietnam in the first nine months of this year, retaining its leading position among the 65 countries and territories investing in the country.

Korean investment projects in Vietnam have average capital of US$9 million and have good quality, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh confirmed.

RoK’s investment capital in Vietnam mainly focuses on the manufacturing and processing sector, science and technology, construction and real estate trading. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, RoK’s investment in the manufacturing and processing sector has strongly increased since 2009 and tends to further increase in the coming time.

The presence of big grants such as Samsung, Doosan, Kumho, Posco, Lotte and GS has contributed to increasing the attractiveness of the Vietnamese market. It has also provided opportunities for Vietnam to access modern production technologies and participate in the global value chain.

Huge prospects

Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises Chairman Nguyen Mai confirmed huge prospects in attracting RoK’s investment capital in Vietnam. For example, Samsung is planning to pour more capital into Vietnam from now to 2020.

These prospects have become brighter as Vietnam and the RoK have adopted many bilateral and multilateral cooperation activities in agriculture, thermo electricity and support industries.

The RoK is also one of Vietnam’s large development partners. The RoK government is building a Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) with Vietnam to help the nation achieve its goals on transport, water, health, state management and education in the 2016-2020 Socioeconomic Development Plan.

In particular, the Korea-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement was signed in May 2015 and took effect on December 20, 2015. To implement the agreement, the two sides established a joint committee at a ministerial level and subcommittees on trade in goods, customs, trade defense, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and technical barriers to trade.

Nguyen Hoa / ven