The Vietnamese Government has reaffirmed its resolution to build more stable, transparent and liberal trade relations with all trade and investment partners in the world.
Addressing the “Investing in Vietnam” Forum in Hanoi on August 17, 2004, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai committed to implement the policy of maximizing internal resources and efficiently using international assistance.
The Government would adopt policies and solutions to create fundamental changes in attracting foreign investment in essential economic sectors, particularly in high technologies and source technology, the Prime Minister told the conference.
Measures would be taken to lower input cost and establish a single price system for both foreign and local businesses, he said.
Attention will be paid to the establishment of market institutions and all types of market, first of all the stock market, the financial and monetary market, the real estate market, the labor market and the scientific and technolo-gical market, according to the Prime Minister.
Restructuring State enterprises, raising their efficiency and competitiveness, abolishing their monopoly and other exclusive rights while promoting the development of the non-State sector were also the major tasks, Mr. Khai said.
He also stressed the need to revise the national legal system so as to meet the requirements of economic integration and accession to the WTO.
According to the Prime Minister, invest-ment in the coming time will be targeted to socio-economic infrastructure develop-ment, especially telecommunication and information technology, and to the implementation of the 2001-2010 program on administrative reform.
In his speech delivered the same day at the function, Planning and Investment Minister Vo Hong Phuc pledged to improve the investment environment, remove obstacles and barriers for foreign investors in Vietnam.
Among the solutions and orientations mapped out by the Minister were the building of a common investment and enterprise law applicable to all enterprises of all economic sectors; the elimination of discrimination between domestic and foreign investment; the diversification of investment forms; the reduction of investment costs and expenditures, and improvement of investment procedures.
Since the promulgation of the Law on Foreign Investment in 1987, Vietnam has attracted 4,700 foreign investment projects with the total registered capital of nearly USD 44 billion, of which USD 27 billion were already realized, according to Minister Phuc.
The first seven months of this year saw almost USD 2 billion of foreign investment having been registered, up by 26.3% over the same period last year, he said.
The two-day Forum’s participants, including more than 500 foreign and local businesses, focussed their discussions on the insights, strategies and prospects of investment in Vietnam.
