Vinh Phuc: Innovating Investment Promotion to Attract New FDI Inflow

The investment and expansion of famous global brands such as Honda, Toyota, Piaggio, Sojitz, Sumitomo and Amanta serve as the most convincing evidence of Vinh Phuc's potential. However, as all localities work to improve their investment environments and enhance competitiveness, and with FDI investors increasingly seeking new locations, Vinh Phuc province must focus on substantial innovation in its investment promotion efforts to stay competitive.

Many businesses pledge to accompany local development

Significant figures

Despite facing "unprecedented" subjective and objective challenges, Vinh Phuc has still achieved highly promising results in attracting FDI. The province licensed 70 FDI projects with over US$462 million in 2022, nearly 2.7% higher than the target, and 78 new and existing FDI projects with US$604.2 million in 2023, up 30.76% year on year. In the first 11 months of 2024, Vinh Phuc permitted 32 new FDI projects to invest US$190 million and 42 existing projects to add US$400 million, totaling US$590 million, as much as in 2023 and 50% higher than the full-year plan.

As of November 15, 2024, the province had 1,326 projects, including 481 FDI projects with over US$8.4 billion and 845 DDI projects with about VND145,151 trillion from 20 countries and territories. Many giant projects are invested by gigantic multinational corporations from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Singapore, Europe and the United States. Up to now, Vinh Phuc has completed the 5-year investment attraction period (2020-2025) with US$2.5 billion of FDI funds.

Provincial Party Secretary Duong Van An, Provincial People's Committee Chairman Tran Duy Dong visited the factory of Honda Vietnam Company

According to Vinh Phuc leaders, the FDI sector has always importantly fostered economic growth, economic restructuring, employment, budget revenue growth and people's livelihoods. Every year, this sector contributes over 65% to the province’s total state budget revenue and 56 - 70% of industrial production value.

Vinh Phuc's achievements stem from its shift in investment attraction strategies, adopting policies and executing specific projects over the years. These include the projects to improve the investment environment and competitiveness (2013-2015 and 2016-2020), support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), foster connections between local businesses and FDI firms for integration into global supply chains, and attract strategic investors to the province by 2030. Besides, the province has accelerated administrative reforms, expanded investment flows, developed synchronous modern industrial park infrastructure, raised the quality of human resources to meet the recruitment demand of investors.

Promotion reforms

Defining that reforming investment promotion is the key to attracting large investment projects, Vinh Phuc province decided to establish the Vinh Phuc Investment Promotion and Business Support Center from the reorganization of the Site Clearance and Land Fund Development Board under the Vinh Phuc Provincial People's Committee, the Investment Promotion Research and Business Support Center under the Department of Planning and Investment, the Tourism Promotion Information Center under the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Center for Foreign Affairs and Aid Promotion under the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Bui Hong Do, Director of the Center, said: The consolidation of previous investment, tourism consulting, and support agencies will enhance the efficiency and speed of promotion efforts, providing investors with better opportunities to explore investment prospects in the locality.

With the philosophy “Investors in Vinh Phuc are citizens of the province, the success of businesses is the success of the province”, the province has upheld on-site promotion and provided maximum support for enterprises which are expected to entice other investors to Vinh Phuc. As a leading agency to carry out this task, we have made fundamental changes in investment promotion methods by approaching target domestic and foreign investors to provide information and induce their investment. “We advocated not carrying out large-scale overseas investment promotion but targeting specific industries, fields or projects in target countries with proven strengths that the province needs. Vinh Phuc always gives priority to selective investment projects, limiting land-intensive projects with low added value while resolutely turning down energy-intensive projects and environmentally polluting projects. We link investment promotion with trade promotion and tourism promotion to optimize the State budget spending,” he added.

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Moreover, Vinh Phuc has developed investment project lists for specific phases and actively promoted its investment and business environment through various channels, including the internet and both central and local media. The province has published investment promotion materials in five languages namely Vietnamese, English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, and has adopted a comprehensive approach to promoting Vinh Phuc's investment opportunities at domestic and international events. Investment promotion programs have expanded beyond traditional markets like Japan and South Korea to target emerging markets in Europe, the US and Australia. The province is also capitalizing on redirected investments from China and Taiwan, as well as opportunities from supply chains and partner countries within the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

According to its strategic investment attraction program, Vinh Phuc aims to attract an additional US$2-2.5 billion in FDI capital by 2030 and secure partnerships with 1-5 of the world’s Top 500 multinational corporations.

By Le Hien, Vietnam Business Forum