Overview of the ceremony.
The MoUs for investments worth US$3.75 billion were signed by Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung and representatives of the Japanese groups in Tokyo, Japan, in the presence of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
The MoU was signed at the conference on promoting investment in Vietnam held in Tokyo on July 1.
They included the MoU between the Hanoi People’s Committee, Japan’s Sumitomo Group and its Vietnamese partner BRG Group to develop projects in Tay Ho districts and Dong Anh Industrial Park in Dong Anh district at a combined investment of 3 billion USD.
Hanoi also agreed with Hanoi-based IDS Equity Holdings and Japanese investors on a number of projects to build office buildings, apartments and hotels in the city which are estimated to worth about 500 million USD and with Aeon Mall Vietnam, a subsidiary of Japan-based Aeon Mall Corporation to construct a 250-millinon-USD new shopping mall in Bac Tu Liem district.
At the conference, Hanoi’s mayor Nguyen Duc Chung briefed investors on the city’s business environment and its incentive policies to attract foreign investment.
At the signing ceremony. (Photo: VNA)
In a prior meeting with Chung, leaders of another major Japan-based corporations, Nidec, proposed to invest 1 billion USD in a project in the capital city and signed an agreement to set up a production facility in Hanoi for manufacturing hi-tech products.
Chung had been accompanying PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc in a working visit to Japan from June 30 to July 1. He held meetings with leaders of Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Aeon, IDS Equity Holdings and Nidec to promote Japanese investment in Hanoi.
He introduced Hanoi’s business climate and investment incentive policies, saying the city has made concrete efforts to speed up public administration reforms and facilitate foreign investors.
In 2018, the city jumped up four places from the previous year in the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) and led the country in FDI attraction. For the first time since the launch of the provincial competitiveness (PCI) index report in 2005, Hanoi has been ranked among the top 10 positions nationwide, claiming the 9th rank out of 63 provinces and cities, up four places compared to the previous report.
The city is committed to supporting enterprises in terms of administrative procedures and training human resources for investors in priority fields, Chung stressed.
Among 55 cities and provinces having received direct foreign investment (FDI) in the first six months this year, Hanoi has attracted the largest portion of capital commitments with over US$4.79 billion, accounting for 28.6% of total investment nationwide in the period.
As of May 2019, total FDI committed to projects in Hanoi reached US$41.2 billion, including 4,850 ongoing projects with registered capital of US$34.2 billion.
Additionally, 1,850 projects have had over US$7 billion in capital contributed by foreign investors.
The mayor also noted that Japan became the largest foreign investor in Hanoi last year and predicted the East Asian country will retain the top spot this year. He pledged to provide support for Japanese investors in terms of procedures, land lease and human resources training when doing business in prioritized areas.
