Why Japanese Are Interested in Da Nang?

  There are many advantages in geographical location, low labor costs, open investment environment... have made Da Nang becoming more and more attractive to Japanese investors. The cooperative relation between Da Nang and Japan has already had a solid foundation and are in the best development stage...

Previously, many Japanese investors are often interested in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) but recently they have been paying much attention to Da Nang - the city by the Han River. Besides the natural advantages, the Da Nang Government has also actively support and creates favorable conditions for investors, including Japan.

Recently, Da Nang and Japanese localities have also actively expanded their friendly cooperative relations in various fields. Da Nang has officially signed the Memorandum and deploy the friendship cooperation with Kawasaki, Sakai Yokohamam, Mitsuke and is taking steps to promote expanded cooperation, towards the signing of the Memorandum with Nagasaki, Kobe, Yaizu, Fukuoka, Otawara, Nemuro, Kushiro, Matsusaka. Da Nang is Vietnam's pioneering province of Vietnam that has representative office in Tokyo...

Up to now, there are more than 120 enterprises and representative offices of the company from Japan have been active in Da Nang, with total investment of about 500 million USD, creating more than 30 thousand jobs for local workers. Annually, Da Nang also welcomed about 200 Japanese delegations came to survey and seek opportunities for cooperation and investment.

There are many projects in Da Nang that are constructed using ODA capital from Japan such as Hai Van Tunnel, the project to upgrade Tien Sa port, Da Nang Hospital...

Da Nang has a favorable geographical location as international gateway when lying on the East - West economic corridor, linking the countries in the ASEAN region. In addition, Da Nang has open investment environment with the liberal policies, implemented by the Government, transparent and facilitate administrative transactions...Moreover, Da Nang also has the advantage of cheap labor costs. Labor cost here is only 1/3 the salary paid to Chinese workers, an important factor in deciding to investment...

To welcoming the wave of Japanese investors, Da Nang has applied teaching Japanese language at secondary and high schools. Until now, Da Nang is province with the highest the number of students who study Japanese language in the central of Vietnam.

We, ANT Consulting company, support you with the service of set up a company in Vietnam, Risk management in Vietnam, Employee background check in Vietnam... to help you shorten the implementation time.

Nielsen: Vietnam Is a Land of Potential Opportunities

  According to Nielsen, Vietnam consumers is the motivation for economic development as they are willing to spend more and are also living in the lands of the potential opportunities. By 2020, Vietnam middle class will grow double, from 12 million people in 2014 increased to 33 million people in 2020.

Vietnam is among the top countries with the most optimistic consumers in the world, with more income and more spending. The percentage of increasing in per capita income rose in 2012 by 44% compared to 2010. The average growth rate of the monthly spending per person in 2012 increased by 32% compared to 2010. Therefore, Vietnam people have a strong desire for a better life, demanding about quality when 73% of people are willing to pay for higher quality.

Health is an important issue while there are 39% see health as the most concerning problem in life. Vietnam consumer’s monthly savings is to prepare for future problems, while 34% goes for the future of children, 12% is for health and 11% savings for house purchasing.

Consumers in Vietnam are also having more opportunities for shopping than ever. Modern trade channels are gaining significant role when 42% of consumers buy groceries at the supermarket more often. However, the utility factor is gradually becoming a way of life and developing quickly because of the accordance with the youth and officer with 23% of students and 36% of officer go shopping in the supermarket, convenient shop.

However, grocery store is still the dominant shopping channel in the market, while over 80% of sales of fast moving consumer goods coming from grocery stores, with 1,3 million stores across the country.

Technology offers more opportunities to help Vietnamese consumers connect. Smartphone is booming in Vietnam when nearly 1 in 2 Vietnamese people owning a smartphone, most of rural consumers watch TV daily. Online sales channel has also been in the market with 28% of Vietnamese consumers prefer online shopping.

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.

The France, Taiwan Phone Companies Invest in Vietnam to Take Advantage of TPP?

  The information that Vietnam has finished the TPP negotiation pushing many phone manufacturing companies like Archos (France), Compal (Taiwan) to promote their market expansion plan and investment in through setting up business in Vietnam.

The Archos phone company (France) and their distributor – Petrosetco (Vietnam) are recently launching 7 product lines in Vietnam market.

Mr. Frederic Balay - Senior Vice President and CEO in charge of North American of Archos has opined that Vietnam is large market which phone demand is constantly increasing every year. Along with that, while Vietnam is an official member of the TPP, the market will be extended to billions of people and 40% of global GDP, attractive offers on tariffs for intra-origin goods.

Mr. Frederic Balay also said that these product lines are designed by a team of engineers in France and factories in China of Archos are undertaking production. But he revealed that the company is making long-term plans in Vietnam market.

At the end of September, a major phone producer - Compal (Taiwan) also confirmed their decision to return to Vinh Phuc to continue investing in the plan to produce smart phone which was left unfinished at the end of 2007.

Mr. Vincent Lee, Deputy General Director of Compal factory in Vietnam said that in two recent months, Compal has urgently repaired factory system; installed equipment, machinery; worked with a number of localities inside and outside of the province for employment and preparing to welcome the world's top customers to visit exploring opportunities for investment and cooperation in smart phone manufacturer in Vinh Phuc.

Vinh Phuc leader suggested that Compal should shorten the negotiation with partners, and soon to announce the list of products to be produced, as the basis from now until the end of 2015.  The province can adjust the investment certificate has signed and complete the procedures, mechanisms and policies to support the project in accordance with the law of Vietnam.

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.

FDI Capital Flowing into Vietnam in The First 10 Months of 2015

  Vietnam is positive in receiving foreign investment from Malaysia, South Korea, UK, Japan...in setting up business and M&A activities in various sectors.

The investment capital has been registered with major projects licenced in Tra Vinh, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ha Noi, Tay Ninh, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh.

Investment projects licensed are mainly in the area of processing and manufacturing, real estates and services.

According to new figures released by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, from the beginning of this year to October 20^th 2015, there have been 1,657 newly licensed FDI projects with total registered capital of nearly 12.43 billion USD, increased by 26.9% of total projects and 24.8% of total capitals over the same period in 2014. There are also 667 projects licensed from the previous year registering for capital increase reaching 6.87 billion USD.

We, ANT Consulting company, support you with the service of set up a company in Vietnam, Risk management in Vietnam, Employee background check in Vietnam... to help you shorten the implementation time.

Foreign Corporations Want to Invest in The Vietnam Seaports

  Sebrina Group Holdings Ltd (Singapore) expressed their desire to seek more opportunities for cooperation between the Group and the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam in the near future; they also showed their interest in the projects to build seaport in Vietnam...

At the meeting with Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang on September 3^rd, Mr. Nasrat Muzayyin - CEO and Co-founder of Sebrina Group Holdings Ltd (Singapore) expressed his desire to seek more cooperation opportunities between the Group and the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam in the coming time.

Accordingly, Sebrina Holdings is a strong business in the energy sector. The Group wants to find out traffic projects related to energy in Vietnam. Simultaneously, the Group also expressed interest in the projects to build seaport in Vietnam.

Presently, Vietnam needs to develop breakthrough many sectors, in which transportation infrastructure is seen as one of the bottlenecks that need to develop rapidly in the future.

On that basis, the Minister appreciated the interest of foreign investors, including the Sebrina Group Holdings Ltd and pledged to create favorable conditions for investors to access to essential information about projects for researching and investment in developing the transportation infrastructure in Vietnam.

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.

Investment Waves from Japan Continue to Rise

  It has been observed that Vietnam continues to receive foreign investment switched from from China, Thailand into Vietnam to acquire shares or set up business in Vietnam in real estate, manufacturing, and other services, especially from Japan investors.

On July 31^st, 2015 Forval Group has partnered with Tin Nghia Corporation and Dong Nai Container Port JSC to announce the establishment of Japanese Small and Medium Enterprises Development JSC (JSC) with an investment capital of 772 billion VND.

Accordingly, the JSC will build the infrastructure of workshops dedicated to the small and medium Japanese enterprises in Nhon Trach 3 Industrial Zone on 18,2ha area.

The community of Japanese SMEs tends to invest abroad but there is no need to rent vacant land but to rent factory space to shorten the time of initial investment. Therefore, the construction of the factory infrastructure to attract Japanese SMEs is efficient model.

Earlier, on July 26^th, 2015, Creed Group Investment Funds (under the Creed Group - Japan) signed a 200 million USD investment project in An Gia Investment and Property Development JSC. Besides, Creed Group also provides loans for An Gia to buy project, building high quality Japan housing projects in HCMC. In addition to financial investment, Creed Group has also transfer the real estate development technology for An Gia. But this is only the first step in the strategic partnership between the two sides. Creed Group will continue to increase investment if real estate market developed well.

Another Japanese corporation that is Kyocera Mita in May has also invested in building a factory in Hai Phong with capital of 200 million USD. The project was built in Vietnam – Singapore Urban, Industrial and Services Area (VSIP Haiphong) with an area of 20ha, specializes in manufacturing all types of printers, copiers for export to 140 countries around the world.

According to data from the Foreign Investment Department (Ministry of Planning and Investment), by the end of Quarter II/2015, Vietnam has attracted 2,551 projects with a total investment capital of up to 37.7 billion USD. Particularly in HCMC, there are 787 Japanese companies are operating in many sectors from retail, real estate, manufacturing, science and technology...

Early of June 2015, the delegation led by Mr. Iwasaki Yasuo, Vice Governor of Saitama City is visiting HCMC to exchange the cooperation opportunities. Continued with the investment trend, during the connection day between Japan and Vietnam companies in the field of agricultural, food, held in HCMC on July 31^st 2015, 25 Japanese companies have also met with 100 Vietnam companies to explore business opportunities. Since last year there have been over 6,000 Japanese businessmen came to find out information about Vietnam market with the desire to invest and expand their business here.

In particular, 60% of enterprises are interested in service fields such as restaurants, hotels, wholesalers, retailers, the remaining opportunities are in the field of manufacturing and processing.

With the advantages of labor and investment environment have increasingly been improved, some Japanese companies that are investing in Thailand and China have decided to choose Vietnam as next destination. Jetro's survey showed that as many as 25% of enterprises operating in China said they would move to Vietnam in the coming years.

Because of labor costs are increasing but limited workforce, many Japanese companies have tended to move abroad and Vietnam is the preferred destination. The wave of investment into Vietnam will continue to increase in the future, including commissioned production form.

The wave of companies shifting from China to 3^rd country has occurred for some years, however, at the present, this trend is growing fast. The reason is that labor costs in China rising, and many other obstacles. While Vietnam has favorable conditions for investment and development through young labor force and low labor costs. With over 90 million people, Vietnam is the 3^rd largest market of South East Asian region and this market is continuing to open when the ASEAN Economic Community was established by the end of this year. In addition, the investment environment in Vietnam is increasingly improved and the performance of businesses has developed.

The survey conducted by JETRO in 2014 showed that there are 66% of Japanese companies in Vietnam want to expand operations in the next few years because of good business performance. Up to 84.4% of Japanese companies participating in the survey said that they have higher revenue in 2014 than in 2013, with production sector, up to 70% enterprises see high potential in Vietnam market. Besides the favorable conditions to attract investment, the support from the Bank of Japan also help Japanese companies expand business strongly. One of the "synergy" of Japan investors is Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, the country's largest bank with market capitalization of up to 170 billion USD.

Mr. Nobuyuki Hirano, President of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Bank in the meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in April 2015 said they would continue to support capital for the Japanese businesses to invest in Vietnam, as well as support Vietnam in the development of supporting industry, high technology industry, infrastructure and agricultural development.

FDI flows into Vietnam from China?

 In the longer term, FDI flows may decrease in China and move out of the country. Vietnam has the opportunity to attract investment capital when many investors wish to set up business to enter Vietnam market.

Earlier, according to the survey of FDI Market in the Asia - Pacific region, Vietnam is the 2^nd largest country that attracts FDI after China. However, rising labor costs in China in recent years has created opportunities for the emerging markets in Asia including Vietnam to enhance their competitiveness in the manufacturing sector.

Specifically, the cost to open one factory to produce chemical equipment or pharmaceutical technology in Vietnam is cheaper than in China by 50%. Similarly, the cost to build an auto manufacturing plant in Vietnam is 40% cheaper than in China.  Foreign investors have sent signals to switch manufacturing into Vietnam.

Looking at the medium term, the picture of foreign investment in Vietnam is bright. The domestic market continued to recover with the forecasting GDP growth for 2015 is 6.1% and increase to 6.2% in 2016.

Therefore, if Vietnam can make good use of opportunities, maximize cost benefits; enhance the skills of workers and improve production technology, Vietnam will benefit in the upcoming shift.

Vietnam Prime Minister Visits Japan to Promote Investment

  Japan has played more and more important role as a strategic investor in Vietnam through making investment and setting up business in Vietnam with growing number of foreign direct investment projects.

Accepted the invitation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will lead Viet Nam delegation to attend The Seventh Mekong-Japan Summit Meeting in Tokyo from Jul 2 to Jul 4th, 2015.

This is an important conference to unify the orientation about Mekong-Japan cooperation for the period 2016-2018. The conference will review the situation between Mekong-Japan cooperation, especially resulting the implementation of the Mekong-Japan Action Plan in the 2013-2015 period and measures the priorities in the near future.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh said, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attend The Seventh Mekong-Japan Summit Meeting to promote Economic Society development of the Mekong Sub-region in general and of Vietnam in particular, as well as consolidate friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and the Mekong region countries, and most important strengthen Vietnam's Extensive Strategic Partnership with Japan.

Within the framework of this Summit, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will have talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and with The Leaders of the Mekong region countries.

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.

Which Sectors Attracting Investment in First Half of 2015?

  The trend of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam continues to tremendously increase into key sectors such as industrial processing and manufacturing, business and real estate, wholesale and retail, through setting up business in Vietnam.

Accordingly, the disbursed FDI inflows in June positively increased and exceeded the growth rate of last year. In June 2015, registered and new FDI is 1.19 billion dollars, bringing the total registered and new value to 5.49 billion dollars since the beginning of this year, equivalent to 80.2 % value of the same period in last year 2014.

In particular, FDI registered capital of 3.83 billion USD since the beginning of 2015 is equivalent to 79% FDI capital of the same period in 2014. Additional FDI capital was 1.65 billion in the first 6 months of 2015, equivalent to 83% FDI capital of the same period of 2014. The FDI project has disbursed a total of 6.3 billion, increase 9,6% value in the same period in 2014.

FDI in small-scale projects has a tendency to continue to play a leading role as the previous month. In June 2015, Vietnam has not had any large-scale projects yet. Meanwhile, small-scale projects including new and additional capital have increased. The number of new projects increased by 15% and the number of additional capital projects increased more than 28%.

Foreign investment in Vietnam in the past 6 months continuously focuses on key industries like processing industries, manufacturing, business and real estate, wholesale and retail.

Previous figures of Foreign Investment Agency (Ministry of Planning and Investment) stated that processing industries, manufacturing continues are the sector attracting the interest of foreign investors with 338 registered investment projects and 190 new projects increased capital, with total new and additional capital is 4.18 billion, which accounts for 76.2% of total registered capital. Real estate is second with 11 projects registered and 7 projects increased capital. The total investment of newly registered and additional capital is 465.5 million USD, accounting for 8.5% value of total capital investment. At third, the wholesale and retail sector with 119 new projects and 26 projects increased capital. The total investment of newly registered and additional capital is 276.5 million USD, accounting for 5% value of the total investment.

Compared with the same period of 2014 figures, it’s clearly that foreign capital invested in the retail sector is growing. In the first 6 months of 2014, FDI in retail sector figures stop at about 1.4% of total registered FDI capital in Vietnam. In the first 6 months of 2015, this figure has increased by 5%.

In conclusion, thanks to the considerably development in recent years, the retail industry has risen and competed against the construction industry, becoming one of three areas which attracts foreign capital the first six months of the year 2015.

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.

Japan Pouring Capital into Vietnam Real Estate Market

   Vietnam real estate market has seen a growing funds poured into the real estate market through signning partnership agreement with Vietnam partners or direct foreig own investment in setting up company in Vietnam.

Since 2011, Tokyu Corp of Japan has already had cooperation agreements with Becamex IDC Corp to invest USD 1.2 billion to develop the urban area project of 71ha in Binh Duong new city.  Other real estate business as Thanh Dong has also signed cooperation with many Japanese investors to mobilize capital for investment in a range of real estate projects. Accordingly, Thanh Dong is negotiating with a private equity fund in Osaka to cooperate investment in 3 major projects of this company in Hai Duong. Besides, Thanh Dong has also reached agreement with Handa Global (Yokohama) on contributing capital to build a 5 star hotel complex in Nha Trang - Dien Khanh urban area and a sea villa complex in the urban area of trade, tourism and financial services in Nha Trang city center. The total committed value between Thanh Dong and Handa Global reach 200 million USD.

Earlier, Japanese investors are willing to invest in golden lands at Le Duan - Hai Ba Trung (District 1 - HCMC) to construct a building for the Japanese investors which are growing fast in numbers in Vietnam. In addition, Sumitomo Corporation is exploring the investment projects in Thu Thiem commercial and financial center in the area of 20ha.

In the segment of industrial real estate, industrial park in Dong Nai was developed by Donafood Vietnam and three Japanese partners: Sojitz Corporation, Daiwa House Co., Ltd and Kobelco Eco-Solution. With the 88% joint-venture cooperation, the Japanese companies and local partners will invest USD 100 million in this segment.  In HCM City, Vietnam – Japan industrial zone with an investment of USD 31 million has just been inaugurated phase 1.

In particular, the Mekong River Delta (MRD) is a new target of Japanese businesses, not only in the field of real estate but also logistics and seaports. Japanese investors are looking forward to be introduced by Can Tho’s authority agencies the position that they can invest in an industrial zone exclusively for Japanese businesses to invest in tourism, trade and services. It is reported that the Saporo Japan Corporation is also exploring opportunities to cooperate and invest in a golf course and ecological urban area in Can Tho and cooperative investment in some other areas of the group's strengths in some provinces in the MRD.

Commenting about this trend, Japanese investors said that Vietnam's economy continues to have the prospects and potential for development, and Vietnam will become an important destination to attract more business delegations and Japan’s leading investors in the coming years.  The according to Mr. Toshihiko, the chairman of Creed Group said: "This is just the first step in cooperation, if the real estate market of Vietnam developed well, we will pump hundreds of millions of USD to not only An Gia Investment, but also into many other partners". He further said, Vietnam's economy is integrating deeper into the world economy. The Vietnam government is interested to complete the negotiations of TPP agreement, which will open huge opportunities for the economy; attracting major international investors. Besides, Vietnam has young population, mainly concentrated in urban areas however modest housing fund will be huge growth opportunity for the real estate sector. Meanwhile, the law on land of Vietnam is becoming more transparent and open to foreigners to buy houses, create purchasing power and investment opportunities for domestic and foreign enterprises.

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.

Visit to Vietnam of the British Prime Minister

  British Prime Minister Mr. David Cameron visited Vietnam in two days 29 - 30^th July 2015, promoting British companies to seek business venture in Vietnam.

Mr Cameron visit Vietnam to discuss measures and orientations to further deepen the strategic partnership between UK and Vietnam, which was established since 2010. Among the Southeast Asian countries that the British Prime Minister visits this time, Vietnam is the only country that Mr. Cameroon visits both two big cities Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

British Prime Minister, Vietnam Prime Minister, General Director of Vietnam Airlines Mr. Pham Ngoc Minh and President of Rolls-Royce Mr. Tony Wood come to visit the Airbus 350 at Noi Bai International Airport. The two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing of cooperation agreement between Vietnam Airlines and Rolls Royce Group for aircraft engine maintenance according to flight times for 14 A350 XWB aircrafts, worth 340 million pounds.

Prime Minister Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung affirmed that the UK is an important and leading economic partner of Vietnam in Europe and worldwide. The two sides agreed that economic, trade and investment cooperation is the priority pillar in bilateral relations and promotes sign free trade agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the EU this year. British Prime Minister  Cameron stressed that UK is looking for better ways to promote cooperation with Vietnam, while Vietnam is predicted to become one of the 10 fastest growing economies in the region in the next 10 years. Prime Minister Cameron announced offer preferential loans to Vietnam worth 500 million Pounds to invest in infrastructure. This agreement also creates conditions for British businesses to strengthen operations in Vietnam.

Talking to the Vietnam General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Mr. Cameron insisted that UK considers Vietnam as an important partner in the region and will endeavor to implement their commitments to Vietnam in the priority areas in the spirit of the Joint Declaration the Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

Mr. Cameron also meets leaders of Ho Chi Minh City and attends the business forum.

Mr. Cameron expressed his delight when returning to Vietnam for the first time as Prime Minister. Twenty years ago, he had visited Vietnam as a tourist.

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.

Strong Flows of FDI Into Vietnam in Jul 2015

  It has been reported foreign direct investment is strong in the month of Jul 2015 for which foreign investors have been putting more money into manufacturing through setting up business in Vietnam especially high tech area.

There were a series of FDI projects that are newly granted with the investment certificate in July 2015, such as the 274 million USD project of Far Eastern in Binh Duong; or the project of Regina Miracle Company will invest 88 million USD to build a shoes manufacturing plant in an area of ​​13.6 hectares in the VSIP Hai Duong. Moreover, VSIP has just received the investment certificate of the industrial park – urban area - services VSIP Nghe An project with the first phase investment capital of over 15 million USD, the entire project could be 76 million USD.

This trend will probably continue in the future, and not just relying on those large-scale projects mentioned above. In the mid-July, during the visit to the United States, leaders of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) have signed a written approval for the Jabil Group (US) to invest additional amount of 500 million USD to expand their factory in HCMC hi-tech park.

Jabil has invested in Vietnam since 2007 and recently they are continuously expanding their investment. According to the statistics of HCMC, Jabil's revenue in HCMC have steadily increased by 50% / year over the last 5 years and accumulated until the end of June 2015, Jabil has exported 1.3 billion USD of the high-tech products, making great contributions to the socio - economic development of the city.

If this project soon to be granted the investment certificate, it will contribute not only to newly registered FDI capital, but more importantly, emphasis the intention to encourage investment in high-tech sectors was a right choice.

Not only in the field of high technology, in order to meet the opportunities brought up by the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), many large FDI projects will flow into Vietnam in the coming time. The negotiations in an effort to resolve outstanding issues when joining TPP will be conducted this coming months. If completed, the TPP will bring many opportunities (and of course the challenges) for Vietnam.

Meanwhile, there are more and more foreign business delegations coming to seek investment opportunities through setting up factories in Vietnam. Last week, a South Korean business delegation came to Vietnam to survey the market and seek investment opportunities in the field of electronics industry in Vietnam.

South Korea is currently the largest investor in Vietnam, with total registered capital of over 39 billion USD and this figure will continue to rise sharply in the future. According to Mr. Kim Young Sun, general secretary of the ASEAN – Korea Center, Vietnam is an attractive investment destination for many Korean businesses, especially businesses in the electronics field.

In particular, with the Vietnam - Korea free trade agreement has just been signed, the expected two-way trade turnover will reach 70 billion USD by 2020. This will open up further extensive cooperation opportunities between Vietnam and Korea in various fields, including investment in Vietnam.

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.

Japan Increases Investment in Vietnam in Finance and Services

  Japanese investors have switched from setting up business in Vietnam in manufacturing into financial investment, retail.

• Why Japanese Investors Invest in Vietnam?
• Three Reasons Japan Invests in Vietnam
• Why Japan Will Increase Investment in Vietnam

Til end of Jan 2015, Japan is the second largest foreign investors in Vietnam in direct investment form with 2,494 projects, and total registered capital of nearly 36.9 billion USD however there have been changes in the structure of the investment capital in Vietnam.  In particular, the manufacturing sector once accounted for the largest proportion of investment in Vietnam drops 30% from nearly $ 1.2 billion in 2013 to nearly 830 million 2014.  In fact, the projects in the manufacturing sector often require huge capital during a long-term investment.  In the context that Japan's economy faces difficulties as well as the global economy is not bright, the reduction of investment in the manufacturing sector is also understandable.

In indirect foreign investment in Vietnam, Japan ranks sixth in the list of countries conducting M&A in Vietnam with more focus on small or medium but long-term and potential large area.  The field of production only accounts for 10% of the total value.

However, the recent survey has shown there is a new wave of Japanese investment in other sectors such as construction, real estate, transportation or financial investment.  The report of The Japan External Trade Organization, or JETRO, a Japanese government-related organization that promotes trade and investment reflects the proportion of new investment projects in the construction, real estate increased from 3% in 2013 to 6% in 2014, while the capital had risen to 13%, compared with 2 % of a year ago.

In real estate sector, Tokyu Corporation has joined invested with Becamex IDC to develop Tokyu Binh Duong Garden City in an area of ​​over 110 hectares with a total investment of about USD 1.2 billion. Daibiru Corporation also acquired the office building Corner Stone in Hanoi with value of the deal at USD 60.1 mil.  These are example that Japanese investors recognizing the potential development of Vietnam’s changes in real estate market as the land ownership have been approved and effective from Jul 2015. As reported, M&A deals in real estate in 2014 accounted for 61% of M&A deals.

In financial investment, in 2014, Daiwa PI Partners and Vietnam Opportunity Fund of Vina Capital invested USD 45 million in the International Dairy Joint Stock Company, making foreign ownership increase to 70%.

In retail sector, Vietnam is also considered as an attractive market with growing mid-income consumer group. The largest retailer Aeon Japan after years of market research has poured more than USD 500 million for two commercial centers were opened in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and a new center in Long Bien (Hanoi).  The group also plans to expand through acquiring shares of two local supermarket being Fivimart and Citimart.

It appears that Japan is holding strong among the leading investors in Vietnam, together with Korea and Singapore.

The UK Entreprises Encouraged to Explore the Potential Market in Vietnam

   In addition to improvement of the business environment in Vietnam, Deputy Foreign Minister Hugo Swire also affirmed that Vietnam and UK will plan to raise awareness for the UK investors about potential business market in Vietnam.

Talking to the press after the Vietnam - UK 4th annual strategic dialogue in Hanoi today (February 27^th), Mr. Hugo Swire said, one of the highlights of the conference is how to strengthen bilateral trade relations.  According to him, a number of the businesses of the UK have succeeded in Vietnam but the UK wants more and more enterprises to be successful in Vietnam in the future.  To do this, the improvement in business environment is one of the problems the UK stressed many times before. Mr. Hugo Swire said that transparency and openness of Vietnam are still big challenges affecting the decision for UK enterprises to invest in Vietnam.  Besides, another fact acknowledged by Mr Hugo Swire is that many businesses in the UK have not understood the potential markets in Vietnam.

Therefore, during the dialogue taken place today, he said, Vietnam and the UK have discussed a program to raise awareness of UK businesses in London to Vietnam market.  According to Mr Hugo Swire, the completion of free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EU will open up many prospects to attract British investors to Set-up company in Vietnam.

"These problems, if be solved, they will bring to resonance as well as open new horizons for UK businesses to enter into Vietnam," said Deputy Foreign Minister.

Reviewing more specific about the Vietnam market, he also said, high-end consumer goods is one of the prioritized potentials for businesses of both countries.

According to him, many designers in the UK now want to introduce products to Vietnam and this may be a priority in the coming time. According to him, four other areas in which the Uk interested are education, energy, especially nuclear energy, health, transportation and infrastructure.

According to Mr Hugo Swire, a detailed plan to strengthen relations and cooperation between the two countries on these issues will be discussed in more detail at the annual meeting of the Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation in the future.

Also on bilateral cooperation, Deputy Foreign Minister said the capital of official development assistance (ODA) will end in 2016 but the UK is committed to continue the support for Vietnam by other methods.

One of the forms of assistance is Newton fund currently being deployed in Vietnam to invest in the fields of science and technology, particularly creative ideas, innovation.

According to Hugo Swire, the UK and Vietnam are still under discussion for formal cooperation framework to help the Newton fund operating efficiently. However, representatives from the UK said, one of the activities of the program is the exchange of scientists between the two countries , thus supporting the implementation of the research to develop economics and society.

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.

Vietnam Supports Australian Enterprises Investing and Setting-up Business in Vietnam

   During an official visit to Australia, in the morning of March 17th (local time), in Sydney, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and high-level delegation to the Government of Vietnam had the dialogue with the businesses of Vietnam and Australia's on the development of Vietnam's economy as well as the opportunities, prospects for cooperation between the two countries.

The dialogue of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has attracted the participation of hundreds of large enterprises of Vietnam and Australia in the areas of banking, finance, energy, oil and gas, mining.  Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has directly answered many questions of the businesses, Australian investors relating to prospects, opportunities to promote and enhance the intrinsic comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and Australia.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has generalized the development of Vietnam's economy from an underdeveloped country with a closed economy and until now Vietnam has become a middle-income country with a dynamic economy, enter into the regional economy and the world's.

Vietnam achieved GDP growth of nearly 6% in 2014. Until now, registered aboard direct investment capital is up to nearly $ 300 billion, with nearly 18,000 projects from more than 100 countries and territories. Currently, there are over 100 leading corporations investing and set-up company in Vietnam.

The Prime Minister stressed: "To attract more powerful, more efficient foreign investment, the Government of Vietnam will continue to fulfill its smooth operation and economic institutions in Vietnam market, compete equally between domestic firms and foreign firms as committed international integration of Vietnam.

Vietnam confirms continuing international economic integration deeper through the full implementation of its commitments in the WTO and bilateral free trade agreements as well as other multilateral ones. Currently we are implementing 8 free trade agreements and negotiations and will continue to expand the market, open market with other free trade agreements, especially the new generation FTA with high requirements to create competitive business environment in the ASEAN region and create a legal framework consistent with international business practice in the market of Vietnam ... "

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also said that Vietnam is focusing on the three breakthrough strategies to facilitate the attraction of investment and development, business and promote economic development, which is perfect institutional market economy as well as investment in infrastructure development and training human resources, especially human resources quality.

Vietnam also continues to ensure political and social stability and protects the legitimate rights and legality of investors, including domestic and foreign; and continue to improve the rule of law, ensure and promote strong democratic liberties of the people, both economically and politically.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has listened and directly answered many of the questions of businesses, Australian investors relating to prospects, opportunities to promote and strengthen comprehensive partnerships between Vietnam and Australia especially to promote cooperation in the field of competitive advantage, such as mining, energy, chemicals, agriculture, finance, banking, education and high quality services.

Government of Vietnam also supports Australian businesses involved in the process of restructuring the economy of Vietnam, especially in the strong field of Australia such as energy, telecommunications infrastructure, education - training, agricultural business and finance.

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.

Vietnam’s Tourism Real Estate Sector

   According to forecasts, in the next 5-10 years, Vietnam will remain as an attractive destination for foreign investors. In which the tourism real estate sector is preparing to welcome a new wave of investments with large-scale projects.

A report of Capital Partners Group Vietnam shows that in the next 5-10 years, GDP per capita of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will be equivalent to those of some large cities in Southeast Asia. Therefore, beachfront apartments will become the new growth segments.

Mr. Kenneth Atkinson, CEO of Grant Thornton Consulting Group Vietnam claiming that the living standard of people in general are more advanced, the demand for tourism is growing and a lot of foreign investors are heading their attention to resort projects. The demand for hotels, luxury resorts in the long term are remains high, therefore the number of projects in the hotel and resort sectors will continue to increase with more luxury resorts to meet diverse customer demand.

Recently, many localities have also implemented plan and urged local and foreign investors to invest in tourism real estate projects.

For example, recently, Quang Ninh is calling for investors to set-up business and invest in Vietnam for the period from now till 2020, including projects: coastal resorts, tourism, casino...There are some huge projects: Casino and entertainment complex with scale up to 2,000 hectares in Van Don with a total investment of 4-5 billion USD, Phoenix resort projects (Van Don) 250 million USD; Dam Nha Mac Service Industrial Park with 3,170 hectares and 530 million USD…

In Binh Dinh province, Vingroup has built the Hai Giang tourism project, with a total of more than 650 hectares, a total investment of nearly 3,500 billion VND. In 2015, it is expected that Vingroup can supply over 830 seaside villas to the market from three locations: Phu Quoc, Nha Trang and Da Nang.

FLC Group is also preparing to launch the complex project of golf course, resort, villas and high-end entertainment named FLC Nhon Ly in Nhon Ly Commune, Quy Nhon city. The project has a total investment of 3.500 billion VND.

Most recently, M.I.K Company has introduced the Sol House luxury resort project in Phu Quoc. The project is expected to be launched in early 2016, with a total investment of over 40 million USD, including 260 hotel rooms and villas, spa, indoor and outdoor entertainment areas, two restaurants, beach bar...

Mr. Than Thanh Vu, Deputy Chairman of Tourism Real Estate Association also said that recent moves of the Government on reducing the administrative procedures will provide ventilation for the real estate business, real estate market in general and tourism real estate in particular. In the next phase, tourism real estate sector will have a rapid growth.

Furthermore, Mr. Nguyen Nam Son, Executive Director of Capital Partners Vietnam said that: "If in the future, Vietnam can minimize the troublesome administrative procedures, increase Government budget on promoting tourism of Vietnam on international channels, travel trade fairs, open representative offices in foreign countries..., that will help Vietnam tourism industry and tourism real estate sector to grow fast".

"Because investors are lack of information about the policy, project planning therefore they do not know where to invest in, which specific projects, for how long... so the local governments should organize more meetings, dialogues for domestic and foreign investors to exchange with each other and discuss with the leaders of the provinces and thereby make the appropriate investment decisions, "said Mr. Jonathan Tizzard, Department of hotel and resort, Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam.

According to Mr. Jonathan, the coastal localities like Nha Trang, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan will become the most attractive destination in the next 5 years. In particular, the island of Phu Quoc (Kien Giang) has great potential to become a “hot” destination. Phu Quoc is not soon becoming an attractive casino center and tourism in Southeast Asia if the open policy of Government that enterprises can invest in resorts include casino soon to be widely implemented.

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.

Vinh Long Province: 36 projects calling for investment of nearly 18,000 billion VND

  Vinh Long province has just announced the list of 36 major projects to attract investment in the period of 2012-2015. It is estimated that the total capital investment of these projects are nearly 18,000 billion VND.

Three projects have the largest capital investment are infrastructure construction in Tan Binh Industrial Park (400ha, Binh Tan) with 2,000 billion VND,  Dong Binh Industrial Zone project (350ha, Binh Minh) with 1750 billion VND and An Dinh industrial zone project (200ha, Mang Thit district) with 1000 billion VND. In addition, there are six industrial district projects with a capital of about 2380 billion VND.

There are two high-tech projects in which project land are available are the project of manufacturing and processing high-tech agriculture in the district of Mang Thit, investment capital of about 220 billion VND, the project of high-quality factory in Binh Minh district with an area of ​​7 hectares and investment capital of 340 billion VND.

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.

Big Manufacturer Waves Enter Vietnam

  Facing difficulties in manufacture and consumption, some big car manufacturers in Thailand and Indonesia are planning to find new market in ASEAN. Moreover, recently, LG Electronics- the world’s second largest television manufacturer also intends to move from Thailand to Vietnam.

According to Federal Thailand Industry –FTI’s figures, In 2014, 881,800 cars were sold in Thailand, decreasing 34% compared to 2013. That is the second year in two consecutive years the market is in recession. It was a strong effect to decrease the quantity of output produced in last year : 1,88 million cars (included quantity exported). In Indonesia, quantity sold also lightly decreased which caused reduction of the quantity produced from 1.4 million cars down to 1.3 million cars.

Except for the problem of production, Thailand investors are facing other difficulties, political depression has effected manufacture and trade,and highcosts of labor haverisen the price up. Besides, Thailand’s manufacturing capacity is full, if we want to increase it, we have to invest more. All difficulties above force cars manufacturers to seek for new producing places.

In ASEAN, there are two places which investors are considering to: Philippines and Vietnam. These are two populous countries have enormous potentiality. Hence, the investors still want to invest money in these two countries.

Many people think that this is a facile opportunity for Vietnamto intensively attract new investors, develop cars industry, accommodate domestic demand and export. In Vietnam,  monthly figures on consumption which enterprises declared indicated that the growth still has not had signs of slowing down.

According to the monthly report in Jan 2014, VAMA forecasted industry’s  consumption rate in 2014 would be about 120.000 cars and increase 9% compared to ones in 2013. However, the real number raised almost 158.000, increased 43%. The quantity sold in December achieved a new record when surpassing 20.000 cars and this is the 21^th consecutive month when the industry’s  quantity sold higher in comparison with the same period previous year .

Vietnam’s  advantage is an enormously potential cars market.In forecast, after 2020 when nation’s income per capita overcomes  3000 USD, the demands of cars will break out. In Vietnam, there are two million of car types, rate of cars per capita is still low, in 2030 the quantity sold would overcome 1 million cars per year. In addition, the low costs of labor in Vietnam helps reducing the costs of manufacture.

 LG chooses Vietnam to be the producing place instead of Thailand:

LG Electronics – the world’s second largest televisions manufacturer is planning to move manufactory from Thailand to Vietnam in this year because of efficient producing system, low costs and good logistics services.

In October 2013, LG was authorized to invest 1.5 billion USD to Vietnam for constructing factories in order to produce and assemble electrical goods.

In a phone  interview with Reuters’ reporters, Mr. NiponWongsaengarunsri – LG’s marketing manager in Thailand revealed that LG want to construct a manufacturing “fortification” where produce new lines of TV like the main factories in Korea. And Vietnam is their best choice.

 “We consider Vietnam as an ideal destination to invest. Low costs of labor is an important factor. However, decisive elements are quality and good logistics services” said Mr. Nipon.

Besides, Mr. Nipon also revealed that LG produces about 600.000 TV products per year in Thailand, cost about 8 billion baht (243 million USD). Among those products, there are about 100.000 for export.

Will Vietnam gain benefit?

Following the integration process,  at the end of 2015,Asean Economic Community (AEC) will be established. It will give Vietnam opportunities to expand import and export market, attract investment and skillful labor force in ASEAN area.

Besides, Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is on negotiation stage with final rounds, will prospectively give opportunities to Vietnam’s economy. Free Trade Agreements (FTA)  is and will be concluded which contribute to attract investment and stimulate export.

In that circumstance, Vietnam government continually gives special treatments to foreign enterprises investing in high technological fields, many big Manufacturer chose Vietnam to be manufacturing “fortification” or expanding investment.  For instance, Samsung invested 11 billion USD for factories in Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh city; Intel also declared production line of Haswell chip for desktop in Vietnam;  expecting to accommodate 80% global demand within the next six months.

2014 is the year for transferringbig enterprises from China to Vietnam. Not only Samsung, Intel, Nokia… but also many enterprises in textile, shoes, are pouring billion USD to manufactories in Vietnam, even when they already have had large factories in China.

Considering Vietnam’s opportunities, many experts suppose that Vietnam should prepare thoroughly in order not to be disadvantageous in our own house, by enforcing science and technology, developing supportive industries and improving competitive ability. If we can do well these stages, Vietnam will receive chances from future transfers.

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.