On the afternoon of April 14, Nguyen Thanh Truc, Vice-Chairman of provincial People's Committee chaired an online conference on Belgian investment promotion, which was co-held by the Vietnamese Embassy in Belgium, Becamex IDC and other relevant units. Attending the conference were leaders of departments, sectors in the province, provincial Industrial Parks Management Board, Becamex IDC, the Belgian Honorary Consul in Ho Chi Minh City. In Belgium, there were the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to Belgium and about 90 investors.
Trying to attract online investment
From Belgium, Vu Anh Quang, Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium said that up to now, Vietnam has absorbed 78 investment projects from Belgium with a total capital of over US$ 1.1billion, ranking 23rd among 131 countries and territories making investment in Vietnam. In Binh Duong alone, there are 5 investment projects from Belgium with a total capital of over US$ 39 million, ranking 37th among 65 countries and territories having investment projects herein. Most of them focus on manufacturing pharmaceutical, apparel, additive and beer products; providing services on warehousing and storage of goods...
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An overview of the online conference
In the first months of 2021, despite the impacts from Covid-19 pandemic, Binh Duong has still attracted many domestic and foreign investors in search of the local investment climate. For investment promotion, relevant departments and sectors have continued attaching special importance to renewing investment promotion through online forms to meet and exchange with investors from countries, including Belgian investors.
Wide-open door
At the investment promotion conference with Belgium, Mr. Truc said that, despite facing many difficulties, due to Covid-19 pandemic, Binh Duong last year still strived to maintain its economic growth. The province’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) was estimated to increase by 6.91%. The average GRDP per capita was VND 151 million/year (equivalent to US$6,500). The province’s export turnover was estimated at more than US$ 27.4billion (up 8.5%) while import value was estimated at US$ 21.4 billion (up 7.5%); The province's trade surplus reached nearly US$6billion. Regarding FDI attraction, the province lured more than US$ 1.84 billion. The whole province has so far absorbed 3,953 FDI projects capitalized at US$ 35.8 billion, ranking 3rd nationwide in FDI attraction, just after Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
In parallel with promoting socio-economic development, the province has also actively expanded bilateral and multilateral cooperation in many aspects. The province has to date established bilateral cooperation relationship with 10 foreign provinces and cities and is an official member, a reliable partner of 4 multilateral international cooperation organizations, including the World Technopolis Association (WTA), the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), the Asian Economic Cooperation Forum (Horasis) and the World Trade Center Association (WTCA).
At the conference, representatives of relevant sectors answered Belgian businesses’queries on import-export tax incentives for production of automobile components, high-tech agriculture, investment promotion policies for investment in infrastructure, logistics, warehousing and accommodation ...
Mr. Truc emphasized that Binh Duong is one of Vietnam’s top localities in industrial development with orientation to become an Innovation Zone. The province has always improved the local investment environment, competitiveness and invested in infrastructure; planned the construction and expansion of industrial zones, creating a clean land fund for investment attraction; made urban development planning, social housing construction for workers; deployed human resource training, sufficiently and opportunely providing workforce for enterprises when investing in the province. It is believed that Binh Duong will become a dynamic, innovative, favorable, safe locality and an attractive destination for Belgian investors in the coming time.
Nguyen Thanh Truc, Vice-Chairman of provincial People's Committee: In order to attract high-quality foreign investment, set up strategic orientations for the next period, provincial leaders emphasized acceleration for FDI attraction from Europe. This is not only a potential investment market with great capital, but also a market capable of bringing Binh Duong high-tech projects that are being promoted by the province.
Vu Anh Quang, Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium: The dynamic development of Binh Duong has received great interest from the Belgian business community. This showed that the dynamism and creativity of provincial leaders and the attention and support of departments and sectors in the province have contributed to helping Binh Duong become one of Vietnam’ leading localities in FDI attraction. The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) just approved by the National Assembly will put Vietnam in general and Binh Duong in particular on a new reform path in order to attract more FDI inflows, especially capital inflow from Europe in general and Belgium in particular.
Gricha Safarian, Honorary Consul of Belgium in Ho Chi Minh City, General Director of Puratos Company: I have lived and worked in Vietnam since 1993 and came to Binh Duong province for investment in 2001. I has built the first chocolate factory of Vietnam in VSIP. I am really satisfied when I choose Binh Duong as the place where my factory is located. My company is always created the best conditions for development. With well-built industrial parks infrastructure, Binh Duong has become a preferred destination for domestic and foreign investors, including Belgian ones.
Reported by Ngoc Thanh-Translated by K.T
