Professor Nguyen Mai talks about American investors on Vietnam's FDI map: To welcome "eagles", we must change.

In the first 6 months of 2023, the total registered foreign investment capital ( FDI ) in Vietnam reached more than 13.43 billion USD. Of that total committed capital, US investors contributed more than 405 million USD, ranking 8th among countries and territories investing in Vietnam. This is a rather modest number compared to the potential of a leading economy. PV of Lao Dong Newspaper had an interview with Prof. Dr. Nguyen Mai - Chairman of the Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises - about what Vietnam needs to do to welcome "eagles" to nest.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Mai - Chairman of the Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises. Photo: NVCC

Sir, how do you evaluate the current US FDI investment in Vietnam?

- For Vietnam, the US is one of the countries with the largest two-way trade turnover, and is also the country from which we export the most and have the highest trade surplus. Unfortunately, US investment in Vietnam is not commensurate with trade growth, and is even lower than US investment in many other countries in the same ASEAN bloc.

The fact that the US ranks only 8th among countries and territories investing in Vietnam does not mean much. Because the US invests more than 120 billion USD abroad every year. Therefore, the investment in us is too small. The problem lies in the fact that Vietnam has not had a systematic approach to attract "eagles". Currently, the US has clearly stated that there are 4 areas that it really wants to do long-term business in Vietnam.

First is renewable energy, including solar power, wind power, renewable energy, etc. They have sent delegations to Vietnam many times and also committed that the two countries will cooperate in the field of renewable energy. Because in this field, the US has the technology to develop while Vietnam is very abundant in sunshine, wind and tides.

Second, they want to invest in digital transformation and circular economy. Organic agriculture, green export, digital industry, blockchain… are also in our direction.

Third is research and development, innovation, education and training, and human health care.

Fourth is future technology such as semiconductor industry.

These four areas are in line with the orientation of Resolution 50 of the Politburo, as well as our FDI development strategy until 2030 and beyond.

As you just mentioned, Vietnam has not yet had a systematic approach to attracting “eagles”. So what are we missing that the US is looking for?

- The two sides of Vietnam and the US have agreed on the direction but we have not done our best. The US has many demands, especially regarding intellectual property rights (including copyright theft, counterfeit goods, counterfeit goods, smuggling, etc.). In addition, the current procedures are still cumbersome, with many sub-licenses. The time from signing the agreement to having a project, applying for a license, clearing the land for implementation, etc. is still too slow. For large investors, time is very important, so they require transparency and openness in both institutional implementation and a strong public authority to support businesses. Therefore, we have made efforts to transition to a digital government to minimize administrative procedures.

Sooner or later, the US will rapidly develop FDI investment in Vietnam. But if we are slow, this process will be prolonged. Because currently they have a gas - electricity - fertilizer project worth up to 12 billion USD which is only an agreement. If we quickly resolve the procedures, we can quickly clear hundreds of hectares of land. If there is a 12 billion USD project in the Central region, the US will no longer be in 8th place in the list of FDI investors but will be in 1st place.

Therefore, if you want "eagles" you have to change, otherwise you will only get "sparrows".

Thank you!

laodong.vn