Vinh Phuc Department of Planning and Investment cooperating with Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency to organize investment promotion seminar for Korean enterprises

On August 4, 2021, Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE), Ministry of Industry and Trade cooperated with Vietnam General Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health; World Health Organization (WHO) in Vietnam; KOTRA Hanoi; Vinh Phuc Department of Planning and Investment; Investment and Trade Promotion Center of Ho Chi Minh City organized a seminar: “How would Vietnam’s economy defeat the Covid-19 pandemic?”.

A number of leaders attended the seminar, including: Mr. Vu Ba Phu – Director of VIETRADE; Mr. Lee Jong Seob – President of KOTRA Southeast Asia and Oceania, General Director of KOTRA Hanoi; Dr. Kidong Park – Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Vietnam; Mr. Hoang Van Ngoc – Representative of Vietnam General Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health; Mr. Pham Quang Thang – Deputy Director of Vinh Phuc Department of Planning and Investment; Mr. Tran Phu Lu – Deputy Director of Investment and Trade Promotion Center of Ho Chi Minh City; and more than 200 Korean enterprises.

Korea has been the leading country in foreign direct investment in Vietnam, with the highest quantity of projects and registered capital for years. Until the end of the first quarter of 2021, Korea had more than 9,000 valid projects with a total registered capital of over 71,5 billion USD, accounting for 18.1% of foreign investment capital in Vietnam. Such projects have made over one million employment, contributing nearly 25% of Vietnam’s export value. According to statistics of Foreign Investment Agency, Korean investors have special interest in processing, manufacturing, real estate, high technology and green development. Korea has been Vietnam’s third largest trading partner with 66 billion USD (in 2020) two-way trade turnover.

By the end of June 2021, Vinh Phuc had attracted 208 projects of over 2.4 billion USD from Korea, focusing mainly on processing, manufacturing, electricity and electronics…; contributing over 20 million USD per year to the state budget.

Currently, Vietnam has been experiencing the 4th wave of Covid-19 epidemic with complicated developments. The Government has been applying the “dual doal” of fighting epidemics and at the same time recovering, developing socio-economics. Mr. Pham Quang Thang, Deputy Director of Vinh Phuc Department of Planning and Investment stated at the seminar that Vinh Phuc was the starting point of the pandemic in Vietnam, so the province was the first one in the country to rejoin the fight, and so far the following goals had been implemented: Ensuring the residents’ health; Stopping the spread of the virus within the country, especially within factories and industrial parks; Actively implementing “dual goal”. Together with high awareness of the residents, Vinh Phuc has been able to control the epidemic and recover economy. In particular, GRDP in the first 6 months of 2021 increased by 14.21% over the same period in 2020, remarking the highest growth rate since 2015.

Detailed and satisfactory responses had been made through the seminar, focusing in the following issues: epidemic situation in Vietnam; policies of immigration support; quarantine period for fully vaccinated people; and policies of supporting foreign-invested enterprises during the epidemic.