Reforming, Improving Investment Promotion Activities

Investment promotion and attraction is one of the important tasks to successfully approach and draw domestic and foreign investment capital. Amid fiercer competition among localities and regions, Binh Phuoc determined that reforming investment promotion is an important breakthrough to attract investment flows and create momentum for socioeconomic development. Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh, Deputy Director of Binh Phuoc Department of Planning and Investment, grants an exclusive interview to Vietnam Business Forum.

Binh Phuoc province’s investment promotion conference with Singapore businesses and partners

Could you introduce some outstanding investment attraction results in 2022 and in the first five months of 2023?

Actively applying investment attraction mechanisms and policies as well as focusing on infrastructure investment, Binh Phuoc attracted many large domestic and foreign companies to study opportunities and invest in the province. Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows have played an important role in enhancing industrial production capacity and accelerating economic restructuring towards industrialization and modernization.

In 2022, the province attracted VND10,800 billion of domestic investment, 8% higher than the plan. 1,150 new companies were established, 7.9% more than in 2021 and 4.5% higher than the plan. FDI inflows registered at US$150 million, equal to 37.5% of the plan.

In the first five months of 2023, the province licensed 11 new projects with VND1,855 billion and allowed six existing projects to add VND876.67 billion to their registered investment fund, totaling VND2,731.67 billion, equal to 45.5% in licensed projects and 63.74% in value in the same period of 2022. Accumulatively to May 14, 2023, the province had 1,218 projects with nearly VND118.5 trillion of investment capital.

Especially, in the first 5 months of the year, the province attracted 11 new FDI projects with US$566.491 million and permitted 19 existing projects to invest US$37.137 million more, totaling US$603.628 million in the 5-month period, equal to 78.6% of projects and up 14.8 times in value over the same period of 2022. Nationally, Binh Phuoc ranked No. 8 out of 63 provinces and cities in FDI inflows.

Cumulatively to the end of May 2023, Binh Phuoc licensed 377 FDI projects with US$4.0 billion of registered capital. According to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in the first five months of 2023, Binh Phuoc was a Top 10 recipient of FDI capital in the country. This showed that the investment environment of the province has been substantially improved and strongly competitive. This is the result of the effort and companion with investors, the close attention and firm direction of authorities at at all levels.

In the coming time, the province will focus on synchronizing technical and traffic infrastructure, connecting labor supply and demand and supporting training and recruitment to woo new investors with giant, influential projects with high socioeconomic impacts into industrial zones.

How did Binh Phuoc build an active, targeted, focused investment promotion program consistent with sector-specific plans development orientations of the province in the 2021-2030 period, and at the same time, diversify investment promotion methods to attract more investment?

The Department of Planning and Investment, based on its assigned tasks, actively advised the Provincial People's Committee to develop an investment promotion program. Investment encouragement, incentive and support policies are always monitored and updated by the Department of Planning and Investment. The department advised the Provincial People's Committee to submit those policies to the Provincial People's Council for timely promulgation in order to create an enabling investment and business environment, which is always highly appreciated by domestic and foreign investors and enterprises. Investment encouragement, incentive and support policies have importantly helped increase investment flows for local socioeconomic development, especially in poor rural areas.

In recent years, in addition to directly organizing and participating in domestic and foreign investment promotion activities, Binh Phuoc has flexibly applied online investment promotion methods, especially during the COVID-19 epidemic outbreak. While directly organizing events to introduce potential investment opportunities in the province to domestic and foreign investors, Binh Phuoc has joined many online investment promotion programs launched by the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The department has also worked with relevant bodies and localities to make a list of projects seeking for investment capital and submit it to the Provincial People's Committee for approval. Prioritized projects are selected for each phase, in line with the investment stimulation, incentive and support policies of the province.

According to the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) 2022, among 10 component sub-indices, the Market Entry Index rose 0.81 points (from 6.26 to 7.07) to climb 28 places (from No. 53 to No. 25). What do you think about Binh Phuoc's Market Entry Index? What solutions and activities will the Department of Planning and Investment take to improve the score and standing of this index in the coming time?

According to the PCI 2022, the Market Entry Index of Binh Phuoc increased 0.81 points (from 6.26 to 7.07) to advance 28 places (from No. 53 to No. 25 out of 63 provinces and cities). Particularly, the indicator “The rate of companies having to wait more than 3 months to complete all procedures to start official operation” fell from 6% (ranked No. 57) to 0% to stand among 37 best performers in the country. To achieve this result, in the past year, Binh Phuoc adopted many consistent solutions as follows:

Regarding business registration, the Department will perform all business registration procedures at the Provincial Public Administration Service Center according to the following principles: (1) receiving, (2) appraising, (3) approving, (4) sealing, (5) returning the result or (6) coordinating with the result-returning division to send the result by post to applicants upon request. All administrative procedures are carried out completely online on the National Business Management System (a complete online public service in the implementation of administrative procedures in the electronic environment).

Regarding investment registration, the department will advise the Provincial People's Committee to seek solutions to coordinate agencies to carry out Regulations on coordination in handling procedures for approving investment licenses for projects outside economic zones and industrial zones in the province. While the Binh Phuoc Planning for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, is waiting to be approved, the Regulations on coordination has been applied closely and promptly by the Department of Planning and Investment and relevant agencies at all levels to provide better service to organizations and individuals as scheduled.

All records are received and their results are returned at the Provincial Public Administration Service Center. The coordination of relevant bodies at all levels on the National Public Service Portal is placed under the supervision of the Office of the Provincial People's Committee. As a result, the settlement of investment licensing procedures applied to projects outside economic zones and industrial zones in the province is always ensured on time and ahead of the officially announced schedule.

In the coming time, the Department of Planning and Investment will continue to apply information technology to settle online administrative procedures, strictly comply with the law, and always monitor and urge units to strictly implement Regulations on coordination of the Provincial People's Committee to ensure service quality and settlement time for businesses and investors.

Thank you very much!

By Duy Binh, Vietnam Business Forum