Vietnam's south lures more than $15b USD in foreign direct investment

The southern key economic zone has, since 1988, attracted more than US$15 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), accounting for nearly 20 per cent of Viet Nam’s total FDI. The zone has also lured VND 66.2 trillion ($4.1 billion) from domestic investment. The total number of FDI and domestic investment projects is 3,033, of these 1,800, are FDI projects. Most the FDI projects in the industrial parks produce electronic equipment, consumer goods, food and beverages, textiles and footwear.

FDI enterprises have so far registered to rent 72.3 per cent of the IPs’ total land. In some IPs based in HCM City and the southern provinces of Dong Nai and Song Be, the land occupancy rate has reached 100 per cent.

The industrial parks in the key southern economic zone have also received a heavy flow of domestic investment projects. The Tan Tao industrial park has hosted 168 investment projects with a total capital of VND5.1 trillion ($318.7 million).

The southern key economic zone has established 66 industrial parks covering 16,423 hectares, accounting for 56.8 per cent of the country’s total IPs’ land. These IPs have provided jobs for 600,000 workers, helping to solve the chronic unemployment problem in urban areas.

They have also contributed 20 per cent of the country’s total annual industrial value (about $10 billion) and 20 per cent of the country’s total export revenue (about $4.5 billion). The southern key economic zone comprises HCM City and the provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Ba Ria, Vung Tau, Long An and Tien Giang. The zone has a population of 15 million and accounts for 40 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, 84 per cent of exports, and 60 per cent of Government revenues. — VNS (Posted August 31, 2007)