Foreign direct investment (FDI) in HCM City in the first quarter
of the year rose by 109 percent compared to the same period last year,
pointing to a positive trend that indicates investors feel more
confident about the economy.

According to the city’s
Department of Planning and Investment, 78 FDI projects with a total
investment of nearly 160 million USD were licensed during the first
quarter.

Among the licences granted in the first quarter,
the municipal People’s Committee in late March approved a third plant to
be built by MTV Sanofi Viet Nam, a subsidiary of the Sanofi Aventis
Group, with a registered capital of 75 million USD. It will be located
in the city’s Hi-Tech Park in District 9.

Authorities also
granted a licence for capital expansion of 95.8 million USD to Nidec
Tosok Vietnam , a subsidiary of the Japanese Nidec Group. That
brought the total capital investment of the plant, located in Tan
Thuan Industrial Park in HCM City’s District 7, to 205.6
million USD.

In addition, 26 FDI projects in the city were licensed for capital expansion of 175.3 million USD.

According
to HEPZA, the city’s EPZs and IPs in the first quarter mobilised a
total investment of 144.5 million USD, up by 21.4 percent compared with
the same period last year.

That included FDI of 122.65
million USD, an increase of 57.35 percent, and domestic investment of
21.83 million USD, down by 57.35 percent compared to the same period in
2012.

The profitable operation of companies in the city’s
Export Processing Zones and Industrial Parks, especially
foreign-invested enterprises, was behind the rising investment trend,
said Nguyen Tan Dinh, deputy head of the HCM City Export Processing Zone
Authority (HEPZA).

Dinh said that this year, HEPZA will take measures to attract even more investment to the city’s EPZ and IPs.

Focus
will be on hi-tech industries that have high added value: mechanics,
electronics/information technology, chemicals, and food and foodstuff
processing. In addition, the city will map out a plan to build an
industrial area for support industries within the Dong Nam
Industrial Park, and is seeking Japanese investment for infrastructure
construction.

The HCM City Trade and Investment Promotion
Centre, the Department of Planning and Investment, and the IP and EPZ
Infrastructure Development Company will organise investment promotions
in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the US and Canada
with the aim of attracting investment to local IPs.-VNA