Hanoi Leads the Whole Country in Attracting FDI in the First 2 Months

According to the Foreign Investment Agency (Ministry of Planning and Investment), in the first 2 months of 2019, many foreign investors have set up business in Hanoi. In fact, Hanoi is the locality that attracts the most FDI in 44 provinces with 4 billion USD, accounting for 47.3%, followed by Ho Chi Minh City with 1 billion USD, accounting for 12%, the third is Bac Ninh with 54 million USD, accounting for 6.3%.

Specifically, among the investment projects in Hanoi in the first 2 months of the year, the largest project is the Indochina Energy Development Project of Thai investors with a total registered capital of 10 million USD.

This is a project operating in the fields of expertise, science and technology, using 100% foreign investment with the aim of providing management consultancy activities (except business tax); Investment consultancy (except financial, legal, tax, securities, insurance consultancy); Construction and installation of electrical systems; Technical consultancy activities.

The second largest registered investment project is the project of Super Gold Moon Co., Ltd. (Korea) on accommodation and catering services with a total registered capital of 3.448 million USD, of which contributed capital is 0.86 million USD, loan is 2.586 million USD. The project uses 100% foreign investment.

The third is EB Nguyen Xien Supermarket Project of Big C Thang Long International Trade and Service Co., Ltd (Thailand) with a total registered investment capital of 2.5 million USD in the form of joint venture.

Also according to the Foreign Investment Agency, as of February 20th 2019, the total newly registered capital, increased and contributed capital to buy shares of foreign investors reached 8.47 billion USD, increase by 2.5 times compared to the same period in 2018.

There are 66 countries and territories with investment projects in Vietnam, led by Hong Kong with a total investment of 4.3 billion USD, accounting for 51% of total investment. Right after that at the 2nd and 3rd positions are Singapore and Korea respectively.

In addition, there are a number of large projects in the first 2 months of 2019 such as: Capital contribution, share purchase of Beerco Limited (Hong Kong) into Vietnam Beverage Company Limited, the value of contributed capital is 3.85 billion USD with the main goal of brewing beer and malt brewing beer in Hanoi; Project of factory manufacturing electronic equipment, network equipment and multimedia products, total registered investment capital of 260 million USD invested by Goertek (Hongkong) Co., Ltd in Bac Ninh…

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US and North Korea Leaders Will Meet in Hanoi, Vietnam

President Donald Trump announced that Hanoi, Vietnam will be chosen as the place to hold the second US-North Korea summit on February 27 and 28, 2019. There are signs of intention of both parties to transform the relationship and create a solid foundation for the denuclearization of North Korea and end the Korean War. This is the opportunities for Vietnam to promote the country as a place for foreign investors to trust and invest through setting up factory and companies, and further grow the country through foreign direct investment.

Vietnam has been selected as the place for this important international political event due to a number of reasons, including good relations with the US, South Korea and North Korea, closer to North Korea in distance, and that Vietnam is a country with experience in organizing in high security event i.e. APEC 2017 with leaders from US, Russia, China, Japan, Korea. Further, the administration of President Trump thinks that Vietnam is a political and economic model that North Korea should pursue in terms of opening the country and attracting foreign investment, allowing foreigners to set up factory, companies in various areas. From difficult relationship with embargo, the US and Vietnam has now become partners with two-way trade which turnover increased from 451 million USD in 1995 to 52 billion USD in 2016, and that Vietnam has become one of the rising export markets of US. From North Korea’s perspective, Kim Jong-un will be interested in witnessing the story of Vietnam, which can be an inspiration and a model for the road ahead for North Korea to follow.

This event will be an opportunity for Vietnam to promote the country of peace, opportunity, prosperity and land of foreign investment, growing its role in the international markets in both business and politics, which further attract foreign direct investment, the driver for growth of the country over the decades.

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Da Nang Calls for Investment in 60 Projects in 2019

After the Lunar New Year, Da Nang began to implement the investment promotion of 60 investment projects, focusing mainly on high-tech, urban and tourist areas real estate, attracting foreign investors to come and invest in Danang.

Da Nang City People’s Committee has just approved the program to attract investment in 2019. Accordingly, after the Lunar New Year, the city began to attract investment in 44 projects with the capital from 30,000 USD to 400 million USD, mainly in the fields of high technology and real estate in urban areas and resorts; and at the same time promoting new investment negotiations for 16 other projects. Among the 44 projects calling for investment, half of them are in information technology and high technology, mainly locating in Da Nang High-Tech Park and the Information Technology Zone. In particular, the city wants to call for investment in a solar power plant with a capital of 150 million USD to 400 million USD and production of semiconductor materials to manufacture specialized circuits and specialized electronic components with a total investment of 200 million USD. In addition, the city will conduct negotiations to promote projects that have been delayed without being able to grant investment licenses for various reasons such as the 52ha wide Software Park project.

According to the program, the city will prioritize attracting FDI capital into industries that seek to advance the industrial revolution 4.0 such as digital, nano-technology, bio-industry, new materials… and the agricultural sector also attracts projects with high technology application, rejecting projects with outdated technology and destroying the environment. Therefore, the city has a policy of focusing on approaching and inviting multinational investors, mainly from Japan, Korea, USA, Australia and Europe.

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Sustainable development in Vietnam

Achievement of sustainable development in Vietnam

The sustainable development objectives including economic, social development and environment protection have been integrated into national priority development together with economic growth objective.

With a stable GDP and economic growth, improvement of education, Vietnamese citizens have gained more knowledge about gender quality, environmental and other social issues, thus, creating campaigns to support collective action. For example, the campaign collecting garbage along beaches in Vietnam attracted more than 1000 students to participate in which indicated collective action to mitigate effect of disaster and climate change.

Vietnamese government has significantly improved the rate of hunger eradication, poverty reduction, population, job creation, education and healthcare. Particularly, in 2014, total state budget for hunger eradication and poverty reduction were more than 34 billion VND. Thus, the poverty rate took a nosedive from 14.2% in 2010 to 1.8-2% in 2014, proving average reduction of 2% per year national wide.

The state fund for environmental protection has been increased, thus the policies for environmental protection has put into regular operation. By executing tax exemption for environmental friendly enterprises, businesses in Vietnam have been more aware of coordinating environmental protection policies into long term vision and mission.

Vietnam takes part in international agreement to show commitment to sustainable development such as: WTO, United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nation Convention to combat desertification, the convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora…

Challenges of sustainable development in Vietnam

There have been some challenges in Vietnam when implementing sustainable development policies. An increase in natural disaster, degenerated natural resource (water and biodiversity resources), wasteful and ineffective production and consumption are causing huge destruction to various local communities.

Even though there have been some supporting policies for enterprises in Vietnam to implement sustainable development policies, they have not obtained full awareness of the link between good environmental, social, and governance performance and the ability of companies to be profitable and survive in turbulent times. Therefore, most of the firms succeeded in promoting sustainable development practices are international businesses.

Sustainable development in business

Since Vietnam takes part in international trade agreements, there will be more international and institutional investors need the information of material environmental, social and governance information about company performance to decide whether to make investment decision.

Sustainable development of the business should be proven by social factors (employee compensation, benefits, staff turnover, safety practices, diversity and local community) and environmental factors (energy efficiency, GHS emissions, biodiversity conservation, water usage, natural resource use, waste to energy and recycling practices). These factors are crucial for investors as they indicates how the company takes into account risks, opportunities, management approach, stakeholder value and long term development.

Sustainability report has been strongly recommended by Vietnamese government. Vietnam Brewery Ltd is one of a few leading companies taking this report seriously. Their report in 2014 stated that the company switched from diesel to biomass as boiler fuel, reducing direct CO2 emissions as a result. In addition to reducing our carbon footprint and mitigating the effects of global warming, the local community has also benefited from the programme with an additional income from the sale of rice husks. The company also highlighted the code of conduct which allowed the employees to voice their opinions. There have been also other big cooperation taking part in the trend for example Bao Viet Corporation, Vinamilk, Hau Giang Pharmacy…

In conclusion, in order for enterprises in Vietnam to actively engage in sustainable development and voluntarily adopt sustainability as common practice, Vietnamese government should take more urgent actions.

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Quang Tri: Revenue of FDI Projects Reaches More Than 42 Million USD

In terms of attracting foreign investment into Vietnam, Quang Tri is also a province that attracts many FDI projects from foreign investors.

According to information from Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee, in 2018, this locality issued decision on investment policy for 48 domestic investment projects with total capital of VND 6,325 billion, 28 projects were implemented with disbursement value of VND 2,900 billion.

Also in 2018, there are 14 valid FDI projects implemented in Quang Tri province with total registered capital of 46.65 million USD. The implemented investment capital in 2018 of FDI projects in this province reached 12.42 million USD (3.3 times higher than the result of 2017). Revenue of FDI projects in the province reached more than 42 million USD, export value reached 18.21 million USD.

Currently, Quang Tri province has 5 foreign investment projects (Laos) with total registered capital of 167 million USD. The enterprises of the province mainly operate in the field of transport and trade in Laos such as purchasing: wood, gypsum, lead, rubber, coffee, cassava, copper sheets, electronics, automobiles… and main export products such as: frozen milk pork, onion, garlic, all kinds of tires, air conditioners, construction materials, all kinds of instant noodles, general department stores. The electricity industry of Quang Tri province has also provided electricity for living and production for all border inhabitants of two Lao provinces: Salavan and Savannakhet, specifically: commercial electricity 4,855,930 KWh, increase by 20.03 % compared to the same period in 2017; electricity sales reach USD 424,893.87, increase by 27.3% over the same period.

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KABUL Group (Korea) Wants to Invest in Building International Hospital in Bac Ninh

Mr Joon Suk Choi, Vice Chairman of KABUL Group (Korea) had a meeting with Chairman of Bac Ninh Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Tu Quynh to explore opportunities for cooperation and investment in the province.

KABUL Group is one of the largest corporations of Korea, operating in the fields of construction, transportation and services… currently implementing many investment projects in Vietnam.

At the meeting, Mr Joon Suk Choi desired Bac Ninh province to pay attention and create conditions for them to soon invest in the construction of a modern international general hospital, combining a high-class nursing area, serving medical examination and treatment needs of local people and expatriates working in Bac Ninh province.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Tu Quynh welcomed the investment policy of KABUL Group, at the same time assigned the Department of Construction to coordinate with departments and the Group to implement steps such as survey and build investment plans in the future.

Bac Ninh is a locality ranking in the top 10 of Vietnam in attracting foreign direct investment. Up to now, the province has attracted over 1,200 enterprises from 33 countries and territories to invest, in which there are over 700 Korean enterprises are investing with a total capital of 12.5 billion USD and nearly 4,000 Koreans who are currently living and working in Bac Ninh.

Bac Ninh and Korea have a close relationship. Bac Ninh Province has twinned with the Daegu city of Korea.

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Solar Power Projects Appear More and More in The Central Region: Foreign Contractors Take Advantage

The Central Coast from Quang Ngai to Ninh Thuan is becoming a huge solar power construction site with a series of projects being groundbreaking and starting construction, in which foreign contractors make bold marks.

In the second half of 2018 and the early days of January 2019, a series of solar power projects were started in the Central region, with the most concentrated in Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan.

Ninh Thuan attracts the most solar power projects in the country. According to the Department of Planning and Investment of this province, in the second half of 2018, there were 15 solar power projects taking steps to build. The number of projects to start construction continues to increase in the first half of 2019, because according to Vice Chairman of Ninh Thuan province, the provincial People’s Committee has issued decision on investment policies for 30 projects, with a total capacity of 1,788.79 MW.

Among the solar power plants that have started construction and are targeting the national grid before June 2019, there are projects such as CMX Renewable Vietnam of Re Sun Seap Vietnam Solar Power Joint Stock Company; My Son Solar Power Plant; Phuoc Huu Solar Power Plant; Solar Power Bim 1, Bim 2, Bim 3…

In Binh Dinh, many solar power projects have been present, such as Cat Hiep Solar Power Plant (Phu Cat District), Solar Power Plant combined with wind power of Fujiwara Joint Stock Company (Japan)…

In Phu Yen, according to Vice Chairman of Phu Yen People’s Committee, there are 7 projects in this province approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade into the Electricity Plan VII. In which, 6 projects have been granted investment policies by the province.

Sterling Wilson, India’s leading solar power consulting and construction corporation, has completed the construction contract (EPC contract) for Sao Mai solar power plant project of Sao Mai Group, worth nearly 80 million USD (phase I).

Many power projects in Vietnam have the imprint of Power China Kunming Engineering Corporation Limited Consortium (Power China – a contractor from China), such as Package 7 on design, supply of equipment and materials, construction and installation of Vinh Tan 2 Solar Power Plant (EPC bidding package) under the Vinh Tan 2 Solar Power Plant Project, which is undertaken by Sinohydro Corporation Limited – Power China Kuming Engineering Corporation Limited Consortium.

Power China is also the contractor implementing the important bidding packages of Hong Phong 1 and Hong Phong 2 renewable power projects, under Vietnam Trading Engineering Construction Joint Stock Corporation (Vietracimex).

This is also the contractor participating in the implementation of bidding package DMS-8 on designing, supplying, installing and testing photovoltaic equipment under Da Mi solar power plant project; participating in implementing the package at Song Bung 4 Hydropower Plant Project (Quang Nam)…

Meanwhile, Binh Nguyen Solar Power Plant Project (Quang Ngai), which is led by Hawee as EPC general contractor, associated with Sharp Solar Solution Asia (SSSA – Japan) – Hawee IDC designed, constructed and installed.

As acknowledged by a number of reputable construction corporations in Vietnam, Vietnam’s solar power market is witnessing a wave of participation of foreign contractors, with a huge bid value for construction, installation, equipment, technology…, even a project signed contract under the form of turnkey contract with total project value of up to 80%.

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KMH Group – Korea Proposed to Invest in Developing High-Tech Industrial Cluster in Thua Thien Hue

Chairman of Thua Thien Hue Provincial People’s Committee has just had a meeting with Chairman of the Board of Directors of KMH Group – Korea, seeking opportunities to invest in Vietnam and exchanging information to expand investment projects in tourism, relaxation and high-tech industry in Thua Thien Hue.

At the meeting, according to Chairman of the Board of Directors of KMH, the implementation of investment projects of resorts and golf courses associated with entertainment services in Chan May – Lang Co Economic Zone with the total investment capital of 100 million USD of the Group is on schedule. KMH Group is looking forward to expanding investment cooperation in this area in some coastal areas of the province, at the same time linking with major Korean corporations to invest in developing high-tech industrial clusters in Thua Thien Hue province.

Also at the meeting, representative of KMH proposed: “The KMH wants the provincial leaders to pay attention and create conditions for the Group to study and implement some investment projects in the province in the shortest time”.

In response to the investor’s proposal, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee welcomed KMH Group to invest in Thua Thien Hue, especially in the potential areas of the provinces with policies to attract investment such as tourism, trade, high-tech industry.

Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee also affirmed: “Thua Thien Hue province is ready to support KMH Group to research and expand investment, especially to create conditions for KMH Group to cooperate with its partners in establishing Korean high technology parks in Hue”.

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Vietnam – Singapore Industrial Park Company Limited (VSIP) Surveyed Investment in Quang Tri

Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee, Mr Nguyen Duc Chinh just had a meeting with the delegation of Vietnam – Singapore Industrial Park Limited Company (VSIP) led by Mr Anthony Tan, Deputy General Director of VSIP, representing VSIP (Singapore) – Amata (Thailand) – Sumitomo (Japan) as the leader.

On this occasion, Mr Anthony Tan, Deputy General Director of VSIP informed the leaders of Quang Tri province about the project of developing industrial parks and urban areas in VSIP at Quang Tri. According to representative of VSIP, currently the joint venture of investors VSIP – Sumitomo – Amata has selected contractors to survey the terrain and geology of the regions and soon have results to report to the Provincial People’s Committee.

On behalf of the provincial leaders, Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee thanked the delegation of VSIP – Sumitomo – Amata Joint Venture investors for visiting Quang Tri province. At the same time, in 2019, Quang Tri province will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the re-establishment of the province. Therefore, the provincial leaders have directed the branches and authorities to make efforts to work together with investors to start or inaugurate projects to celebrate this important event.

Regarding the investment plan for the infrastructure development project of industrial parks and urban areas in Quang Tri, Chairman of Quang Tri provincial People’s Committee wishes that the join venture of VSIP (Singapore) – Amata (Thailand) – Sumitomo (Japan Version) makes more efforts to start the project as soon as possible.

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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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Attracting FDI: New Regulations, New Face

The strategy to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam from now to 2030 with many new points is attracting special attention of investors.

The perspectives of the Ministry of Planning and Investment in developing a strategy to attract FDI capital for the coming period are to selectively attract and focus to increase the efficiency of FDI’s contribution to economic growth in the context of deeper international integration with the implementation of a series of new free trade agreements.

Accordingly, the orientation to attract FDI in the coming period is to prioritize capital flows into high-tech, new and environmentally-friendly industries such as information technology, electronics, telecommunications, automobiles and agricultural machines, construction equipment, industrial equipment, electrical equipment, supporting industry, internet of things (IoT)…

Other priority areas include: processing and manufacturing industries for agriculture to meet international standards, high-tech agriculture, high-value agriculture, medical equipment, health care, education and training, high quality tourism, financial services, logistics and other modern services; developing technical infrastructure, clean energy, renewable energy, smart energy.

At the same time, Vietnam will continue to attract FDI into industries with advantages such as textiles and garments, leather and footwear…, but priority is given to high value-added stages, associated with smart production processes, automation.

Vietnam aims to attract high quality and more efficient use of FDI to access new technologies, increase connections between domestic and foreign enterprises, increase participation in global value chains, contributing to increase the country’s competitiveness and promoting economic restructuring according to the change of growth model.

Vietnam also aims to increase the contribution of the FDI sector to 20 – 25% of the total investment capital of the economy, reducing the energy consumption of FDI enterprises below the national average while increasing the contribution of this sector in GDP growth in the coming period.

The often-changing legal framework is the concern of investors. Law enforcement should be improved to reduce difficulties for businesses when the new law takes effect. Many foreign investors leave China because of this reason and this trend will continue. How attractive Vietnam is depending on the future policies of the Government and enforcement agencies.

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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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Da Nang Calling for Investment in 7 Strategic Projects

In the international conference “Investing in Sustainable Urbanization” organized by Danang People’s Committee in collaboration with the regional network of local authorities on human capital management (CityNet), Da Nang has called for investment in 7 strategic projects.

At the workshop, Danang People’s Committee announced the list of 7 projects calling for investment in the form of PPP (public-private partnership): Lien Chieu port; solid waste treatment complex; new railway station and integrated urban area; infrastructure development and technology for non-motorized transport solutions; Da Nang – Hoi An metro; smart city construction and industrial park construction projects.

In particular, the project of Lien Chieu port is calling for investment with the aim of becoming the main wharf of the international gateway to the Central region, accommodating ships up to 100,000 tons. The relocation and construction of Da Nang Railway Station calls for investors to pay attention and implement the project in the form of PPP, which might be through BOT contract.

Da Nang Integrated Urban Renovation Project has a total budget of more than 345 million USD (over 7,900 billion VND). Project on development of vehicles and application of smart traffic management system in the form of ODA or PPP with a total capital of about 3.300 billion VND. The project to build metro connecting Da Nang with Hoi An city (Quang Nam) with a length of 33 km, along the coastal road, this project needs funding from 7,000 to 14,000 billion VND.

According to the Vice Chairman of Danang People’s Committee, sustainable urban development is one of the priorities of the city. Da Nang has set the orientation and guidelines for sustainable development. Since 2014, the city has approved a smarter city plan with priority areas of transportation, water supply, sewerage, food safety and building better city connections. Hence, Da Nang calling for investment in 7 key projects to address sustainable issues related to transport, urban.

Mr Vijay Jagannathan, Secretary General, of CityNet said that the workshop “Investing in Sustainable Urbanization” in Da Nang is seeking financial investment in urban infrastructure in a sustainable manner, overall and resistant to climate change. He also emphasized that infrastructure is a major challenge for urbanization as demand grows. Urban communities depend largely on effective urban planning as well as access to affordable public services.

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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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Why Asian Investors Prefer Vietnam Real Estate Market?

Profitability of high-end real estate in Vietnam surpasses that of ASEAN countries.

According to Mr Pham Lam, General Director of DKRA Vietnam, in the past 3 – 5 years, Asian investors from Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and China have been active in the Vietnam real estate market. They prefer golden land funds, specializing in high-end and luxury real estate development.

Also according to leaders of DKRA Vietnam, the investment wave of Asian investors will increase in the next few years. The expert also outlines the 7 causes of the trend that Asian investors hunting for golden land to develop high-end real estate projects.

Firstly, Vietnam is a developing real estate market. In emerging markets, there are more investment opportunities than markets that have grown too long (saturation of opportunity). Real estate in many Asian countries are too expensive and the investment at the present time is not attractive in the native country has urged Asian investors poured capital into Vietnam market.

Secondly, Vietnam is a country with political stability, which is considered as the most important factor that is of international concern before entering a new market. The stable political background brings safety for investment yields in the context of global geopolitical fluctuation is increasingly unpredictable.

Third, high-end and luxury real estate in Vietnam, especially Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), is more profitable than ASEAN countries. According to a recent report of some surveyors in the country, high-end real estate in districts 1 and 3 of HCMC have a profitability ratio of more than 4%. In District 2, especially Thao Dien, An Phu and Thu Thiem areas, luxury apartments achieved a profitability rate of 5 – 6.5%.

Meanwhile, the profitability rate of investment in luxury apartments in ASEAN is fluctuating in the range of 3.7 to 5.2% and in Asia, it also has the same threshold. Therefore, luxury real estate in HCMC is considered quite competitive while the price is lower.

Fourth, Vietnam has Asian culture in accordance with the culture of other countries in the area. The similarity or proximity in culture is a very effective bridge in the process of investment promotion, investment cooperation, helping the Asian real estate owners easily access and penetrate the real estate market in Vietnam.

Fifth, Vietnam has a young population and is experiencing a spurt in income, so the demand for housing has increased sharply. The middle class, even the rich and the super-rich, are among the fastest growing groups in the world. This is a remarkable advantage of Vietnam.

With the flagship product of Asian investors, which is high-end real estate, they target rich consumers who are willing to pay for high-value assets with outstanding quality to assert their position.

Sixth, interest rates in the developed real estate markets in the Asia is very low. Interest rate in Japan is 1%, Singapore is 3%, Korea is below 2% and other regions such as Taiwan, Hong Kong is also at a modest level compared to Vietnam. This is the factor attracting the attention of investment funds and major real estate companies in Asia coming to Vietnam. In addition to developing projects with committed profit margin, they also carry out loan deals with better interest rates than in their hometowns.

Seventh, due to the same region, the moving distance between Vietnam and their home country of Asian investors is considered to be faster, more convenient than other continents. Close geography distance helps Asian investors have more opportunities to monitor, check the new market and make important decisions in time, making the most effective investment.

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Medical Heathcare Industry

The demand for medical equipment in Vietnam has been increasing due to the need to for treatment for cancer, heart disease, injuries, with focus on imaging equipment, operation room, emergencies resuscitation, intensive testing. The reason behind is the rising income and awareness of treatment for better quality of life. The foreign companies also tend to seek market entry solutions from independent consultant or local partners whom will be distributing the products into Vietnam to maximize the success chance.

In 2012, the size of medical equipment and supplies had been estimated by Ministry of Health at USD 515 m and the growth rate is between 10-11% per year.

However, the market development has been faster than anticipated. In 2016, total investment in medical equipment in Vietnam was USD 950 million USD. By 2017, this figure increased to USD 1.1 bil and that growth rate has been 18% over the past 5 years.

It has been reported 90% of equipment and supplies are imported from Japan, Germany, USA, China and Singapore, the 3 leading countries are United States, Germany and Japan. The imported imaging equipment such as magnetic resonators, CT machines, ultrasound machines, x-ray machines accounted for 30% of the import volume.

The Ministry of Health has policy to improve the capacity of medical equipment production in Vietnam over the last 20 years ago but the success is limited. Currently, there are about 50 domestic enterprises, but mainly produce medical bed and cabinet. The more advanced machines are being assembled by enterprise that cooperate with Japanese and Korean partners.

It has been evaluated that medical equipment is one of four attractive sectors for foreign investors when targeting Vietnam, in addition to investment in electronics, IT and communication and textiles. Public hospitals, which account for 70% of the market share, are still the largest customers of these manufacturers. The remaining other customer groups include foreign invested hospitals, private hospitals and research institutes, universities.

Government investment capital will continue to play an important role and public hospitals will tend to be more self-reliant in seeking financing for medical equipment investments.

For foreign companies entering Vietnam for supplying medical equipment, they have to follow strict process for bidding for public service. It is important for the foreign medical equipment to follow the Vietnam law and undertake regulatory investigation and research on medical equipment there are different implications for the import, sales and distribution into Vietnam.

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Potential of Investment in Real Estate Market in Vietnam in 2018

According to Foreign Direct Investment Agency, the foreign direct investment amount into Vietnam in the area of real estate has reached 5.54 bil USD in the first six month of 2018, accounting for 27.3 % total registered investment. It appears that real estate is the second attractive sector, after industrial manufacturing. Foreign investors have cơm to realize that, Vietnam real estate market demand has grown steadily over the time for many reasons, including among others, the growing demand of mid-income consumer

Japan is leading investor in Vietnam with total 6.46 bil USD in various sectors, among which, real estate is getting more attractive. Recently, Sumitomo has been granted investment registration certificate for development of project in Dong Anh, Hanoi with 4.138 bil, which is the largest project in 2018. In the South, Nomura Real Estate has announced to have acquired 24% of Sun Wah Tower in CBD of Ho Chi Minh City. In Da Nang, Mikazuki has made investment of more than 100 mil USD in hospitality real estate.

Beside Japan, investors from Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia have invested significantly over the years in the area of real estate and achieved success.

Sophisticated investors, mainly big real estate developers tend to rely on market research, analysis of international real estate agencies. Small and medium foreign investor, and individual in the meantime could utilize the flexibility and dynamic of local real estate consulting companies that provide insight not only to market overview but the behavior of local investor, developer that allow them to have assess to untouched market.

The investors could disburse investment through acquiring shares, capital in companies or provide financial support to local developers to develop project. If investors set up real estate company, the minimum investment requirement is 1 mil USD according to law.

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Educational Investment: A Trillion Race

High profit margin, stable growth, lower risk than investment in other sectors. That is the reason, in recent years, investment in Vietnam education sector always takes place, especially large-scale M&A transactions in Vietnam.

One of the barriers for Vietnamese students to integrate into the world community is their limited English and soft skills. In addition, the curriculum of higher education has not linked to the labor market, people are more interested in spending on education. All that has led to investment in education over the years has become hectic.

In addition, the political stability, economic growth is the cause of increasing investment in education, but the capital scale that businesses invest in this field is still modest compared to other sectors. Hence, education is still a fertile market for investors to continue looking for opportunities.

Education is an area where there is no limit on demand. Along with the development in science and technology, the demand for professional knowledge and language skills to meet the requirements of domestic and foreign job market is increasing. Moreover, there is a growing need for sending children to study abroad. According to a recent study, 42% of Vietnam’s population is under the age of 24 – the golden age for almost all educational programs, so investing in bilingual schools, international universities, English language center is the “golden egg” for many businesses.

Investment trends in higher education will continue in the coming years as non-public universities currently only train less than 15% of the students, while the Government target is 30%. In Japan, Korea, private education and training facilities account for up to 70%.

According to the planning of the network of universities and colleges up to 2020, the total size of university and college education will reach about 2.2 million students, striving to 2020, the whole country has 224 universities and 236 colleges, but the capability to meet is still limited.

Many investors step into the race into this field, i.e. Cognita Education Fund buys International School HCMC (ISHCMC) and Saigon Pearl International Primary School, Nord Anglia Education Fund buys British International School (BIS), TPG – US Investment Fund buys the Vietnam Australia Bilingual School (VAS), EQT Investment Fund invests in the ILA English Language Center, TAEL Investment Fund invests in the Institute of American Education (IAE), the IFC Fund of the World Bank invests in Vietnam USA Society English Center (VUS), the Mekong Capital Fund invests in the Yola English Language Center, the Institute of American Education (IAE) invests in Thanh Tay University… among many transactions.

Another reason that education is attracting more investment is the steady source of profit. Although investment in education is considered as a long-term investment, as even 10 years later it is unlikely that the capital will be recovered, but the rate of profit against bank deposits is much higher and stable. There is also no bad debt because students must pay tuition at the beginning of the school year.

According to a recent statistic from Forbes Vietnam, out of 43 universities and colleges providing financial data, 77% of the schools have revenue exceeds their spending. The foreign language training offers the highest return in education investment, the lowest is 20% and with good performance, it can reach 50%.

The reason why investors are pouring money into education is because they can see the great potential of the market because the middle class is growing rapidly, the demand for education and expansion to the world is also increasing dramatically, while the education of Vietnam is backward.

Each year, it is estimated that Vietnamese people spend about 3 billion USD on overseas study and this number has grown rapidly over the years. According to the Ministry of Education and Training, if in 2010, 2011, the number of Vietnamese people studying abroad is about 98,000, then in 2016, it is about 130,000.

In Australia, each year the country earns 17 billion USD from international students, in which many of them coming from Vietnam. That is the driving force for investment in education in Vietnam next year higher than last year.

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Potentials of Vietnam Logistics Industry

When Vietnam joins the TPP, Vietnam logistics industry has many opportunities to develop and engage more deeply into the world’s logistics centers…

According to the report of World Bank, the forecasted growth rate between 2015 and 2020 is 12%/year and import export turnover reached 623 billion USD in 2020, Vietnam is a promising destination for investors.

According to the statistics from the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA), Vietnam’s logistics costs accounted for about 25% of GDP per year, much higher than countries such as the US, China or Thailand.

In the coming time when TPP agreement takes effect with many tariffs equal 0%, the export-import operations in Vietnam will promise to develop strongly. This is considered a great opportunity for the logistics industry to “boom”.

As an important link of the economy, the logistics activities help the goods to reach consumers and ensure the materials for the production process.

Despite facing strong competition from foreign rivals, many experts still appreciate the future prospects of the domestic logistics enterprises, especially in the context of free trade agreements (FTAs, TPP) boosted FDI inflows pouring into Vietnam industries.

On the other hand, the increasingly improved infrastructure in Vietnam will strengthen connectivity between logistics facilities and production areas; planning and supporting from the State, along with customs procedures are gradually improving in a positive direction.

In the recent two years, a series of key infrastructure projects have been started and completed as Long Thanh – Dau Giay highway, Noi Bai – Lao Cai highway, Ha Noi – Hai Phong highway, Ben Luc – Long Thanh highway Highway 51 connecting industrial park with the ports and Soai Rap channel dredging works (in Hiep Phuoc port) and Thi Vai – Cai Mep channel…

In addition, the Government and the Ministry of Transport have launched a number of policies to guide, support and stimulate the sustainable development of the domestic logistics industry such as: policy to control road loading, preferential policies for Vietnam ships on domestic routes, the draft to establish port authorities to develop ports and port services, Decision No. 1037/QD-TTg on the port development plan till 2020…

Moreover, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam is also actively developing and implementing the ASEAN Single Window mechanism. The implementation of this process will benefit the business community, including logistics businesses such as reducing the time taken for administrative procedures and also cost reduction.

However, in order to develop logistics industry, the State should build and complete the legal framework, standardized service processes, upgrading infrastructure and human resources for the field of logistics.

Government should also take measures to guide and promote logistics companies to link together, formed the company with strong capabilities, able to compete with foreign companies.

With the above subjective and objective elements, Vietnam’s logistics industry still have great potential to develop and first of all, they will have conditions to advance to move towards to same level with foreign logistics businesses in the region.

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Ho Chi Minh City Attracted over 4.1 Billion USD FDI Capital

That is the information released at the meeting on socio-economic situation in the first 6 months of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, which was held on July 3rd. Accordingly, HCMC remains an outstanding investment destination for foreign investors to set up company in Vietnam.

Specifically, HCMC has granted investment registration certificates to 483 FDI projects with a total investment capital of 486.53 million USD (equivalent to 128.8% of new projects and 121.8% of investment capital over the same period).

With the newly licensed projects, in terms of sectors, the manufacturing and processing industries attract the most investment capital with 27.2%; followed by real estate business with 25.5%… In terms of the nationality of investors, Korea has the largest proportion of investment capital with 30.3%; followed by Singapore with 22%…

The city also licensed 136 projects to increase capital with total investment capital of 417.21 million USD (equaling 137.4% of adjusted projects and 113.1% of investment capital over the same period).

In addition, the City also approved 1,421 cases where foreign investors implemented procedures to contribute capital, purchase shares, buy back capital contributions from domestic enterprises, with registered capital equivalent to 3.28 billion USD (compared with the same period, equivalent to 134.6% of cases and 153.7% of investment capital).

In this form of investment, in terms of industry/sector, real estate business has the most investment capital with 43%; followed by professional, science and technology activities with 21.5%…

In terms of both capital attracted in the form of granting investment registration certificate and capital attracted through the form of capital contribution, share purchase, capital contribution in the domestic enterprises, HCMC has attracted 4.18 billion USD (equal to 144.1% over the same period).

According to statistics, so far in HCMC, there are 7,910 effective FDI projects with total investment capital including new and capital increase projects of 45.05 billion USD.

In the first half of 2018, the Management Board of the Export Processing and Industrial Zones of HCMC has granted 12 projects; Ho Chi Minh City Hi-tech Park Management Board has granted 3 projects and Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment has granted 468 projects.

One noteworthy point is that newly licensed FDI projects in HCMC have increased in terms of number of projects and registered capital compared to the same period last year, but the scale of investment is still small (average only 1 million USD/project).

In particular, the project of Samil Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Korea) in Saigon Hi-Tech Park with registered capital of 40 million USD is one of the largest projects. The project is built on an area of 7,500 m2, with the goal of developing and producing eye drops (single dose and multiple doses); research, development and production of special drugs after eye surgery, stem cell medicine for eye treatment… According to the plan, the project will be built immediately after being licensed and officially started operation from the end of 2021.

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ESMO Corporation (Korea) Kicked off The First Automobile Cable Factory in Vietnam

ESMO Corporation (precursor is NEXEN TECH Corporation – Korea) has just started construction of the first ESMO VINA automobile cable factory in Vietnam.

ESMO VINA automobile cable factory has a total area of 63,500 m2 and total investment capital of 700 billion VND, located in Gia Phu Industrial Complex (Ninh Binh), expected to create jobs for 2,000 employees.

The ESMO VINA factory was established to improve the production capacity of the ESMO Corporation, in order to meet the demands of new orders, as well as enhancing the competitiveness through the systematic production of components and spare parts for hybrid vehicles and electric cars.

The plant will focus on the production of Wiring Harness – the company’s flagship product with a production volume of about 450,000 products a year – used in large and small buses, Battery Module Harness, electric vehicle charger cable… with a view to the explosion of hybrid vehicles and hydrogen vehicles from 2020.

In the context of international commitments on reducing emissions are being promoted to combat climate change and the greenhouse effect, reducing emissions from vehicles is also one of the important tasks for Automobile manufacturing enterprises. Electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles are becoming more and more popular, leading to the development of the corresponding spare parts industry that ESMO is one of the pioneers.

Thanks to the strength of experience in production as well as the high-level engineers from both domestic and foreign countries, ESMO Corporation is expected to contribute to promoting economic growth for Ninh Binh in particular and Vietnam in general, at the same time creating more jobs for local people; it not only helps to train human resources but also strengthens local competitiveness compared to other regions of the world.

Currently, the ESMO Corporation is operating two manufacturing plants in Qingdao (China), which are GoHyeon and RaeSeo factories. In order to realize the goal of expanding the business scope of the group into Southeast Asia, besides building a third factory in Vietnam, ESMO has established Global Land Vina Co., Ltd. ESMO is also planning to increase the volume of its supply to the fast-growing and highly-concentrated automobile manufacturers in South East Asia.

Previously, in March 2018, NEXEN TECH (now ESMO) has partnered with Volex – UK-based Power and Connectivity Solutions to expand its business network with manufacturing projects to produce Wiring harness, electric vehicle charger cable; including the exclusive supply of Tesla Model 3 rechargeable electric cables (used in electric vehicles developed by Tesla Motors and Dyson Group equipments), which is scheduled for release later this year.

NEXEN TECH has been renamed ESMO in early May 2018.

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