It has been 30 years since Việt Nam promulgated the Law on Foreign Investment on December 29, 1987. This was an important milestone that made it possible for Việt Nam to open up its economy and integrate with the world. Many global leading companies have entered Việt Nam, such as Coca-cola, Intel, Canon, Samsung, Toyota, FedEx and others. More importantly, most of these corporations are looking to expand business here in the long run.
A World Bank expert and representatives from foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises, including Coca-cola and Canon, have made comments on the country’s 30 years of progress in attracting FDI
Việt Nam has been quite successful in attracting FDI ever since the country opened up to foreign investment. If we look at the impact, we can say that FDI has really contributed in various ways, including industrialisation, where a lot of investment went into the manufacturing sector, building capacity across a range of sectors including electronics, but also more traditionalised industries such as garment and shoe factories, and so on.
It also contributed to increase Việt Nam’s exports and create jobs with higher productivity and better incomes. So I think it’s a very successful part of Việt Nam’s overall economic development over the last three decades.
Việt Nam is definitely one of the leaders in the region in terms of FDI attraction if you look at FDI as a share of GDP. Now what is important to note is that a lot of this investment is currently flowing into labour-intensive but relatively low-skill industries, or final assembly. Việt Nam is competitive in one particular part of the value chain where the value-added per worker is relatively low, because a lot of the components are imported.
