Deputy Minister Phuong made the statement at the Vietnam Industrial Property Forum 2023 held in Ho Chi Minh City on August 24.

He emphasised that despite the complicated and unpredictable economic developments occurring in the region and around the world, Vietnam recorded GDP growth of 8.02% last year, while import-export turnover hit all-time high of US$732 billion, up 9.5% year on year.

Last year saw the disbursement of FDI capital reach about US$22.4 billion, thereby marking the highest figure over the past five years.

In particular, the newly-registered FDI capital and the number of new FDI projects during the January – July 2023 period increased by 38.6% and 75.5% year on year, respectively, demonstrating foreign investors’ strong confidence in the country’s improved investment environment.

Furthermore, Vietnam’s international position has been enhanced through its engagement in 17 signed free trade agreements (FTAs), including new-generation FTAs such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

Moreover, Vietnam is ranked among 20 economies with the largest commercial scale in the world, while simultaneously attracting financiers from 143 countries and territories with nearly 38,000 projects capitalised at more than US$452 billion.

Most notably, the country enjoys a number of advantages of human resources and a domestic market of more than 100 million consumers with a rapidly growing middle class and large purchasing power.

Infrastructure works have been further invested and improved upon, a factor which has contributed to reducing transport, logistics, and input costs for enterprises, duly improving the overall competitiveness of the national economy.

According to Deputy Minister Phuong, along with the drastic participation of the entire political system, domestic enterprises also strive to constantly improve their capacity as they seek to more deeply engage in the supply chain.

Many local firms, which started out as developers and real estate traders, have gone on to develop into multi-field investment groups, gradually reaching out to global markets and contributing to affirming the overall position of Vietnamese enterprises within the international arena.

In fact, the Government has issued a number of policies, including the Foreign Investment Cooperation Strategy for the 2021 - 2030 period, with a view to developing industrial parks. It aims to attract foreign investment projects which make use of advanced technology and high added value, with positive spillover effects to connect global production and supply chains.

He revealed that the Ministry of Planning and Investment has been coordinating alongside relevant localities to continue implementing solutions for the development of industrial parks and economic zones.

Deputy Minister Phuong outlined that the 2021-2030 foreign investment cooperation strategy has set a number of specific goals, including increasing the number of multinational corporations by 50% in the 500 largest groups of the world.

Another objective is to increase the proportion of registered investment capital of countries such as the Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the United States in the country’s total foreign investment capital to more than 70% in the 2021 - 2025 period and 75% in the 2026 – 2030 period.

Vietnam strives to be among three leading countries in ASEAN and 60 leading countries in the world by 2030, according to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings.

Source: VOV