Vietnam to loosen foreign investment rules
HANOI - The Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and
Investment has called for the government to allow 100 percent foreign
investment in several sectors of the country for the first time.
Under the proposal it has made to the government, investment licenses
will be issued to wholly-foreign owned businesses in the fields of
forestry and tourism, according to a report of Vietnam News on
Thursday. Foreign firms will be issued licenses on the condition that
they use timber that is legally imported or sourced from plantations,
local farms or managed forests, or they encourage foreign tourists to
Vietnam.
The foreign businesses will be encouraged to invest in plantations;
provide capital, plant varieties and technical assistance for the
plantations; and purchase the forestry products through contracts with
farms.
The proposal will also see the state encourage foreign investment in
high quality medicines, veterinary medicines, agricultural chemicals
and technical services for agriculture, forestry and fisheries for the
first time.
The ministry has also asked the government to expand opportunities for
foreign investment in capital-intensive fields such as mechanical
engineering for the mining, energy, oil and gas sectors; production of
iron, steel, alloy and other metals; information technology and
medical equipment.
Last year, Vietnam licensed 669 foreign direct investment (FDI)
projects with a combined capital of 1.33 billion US dollars. The year
2002 saw 32.4 percent more projects than the year 2001, but 41.1
percent less capital.
There are now 1,800 FDI projects, which have already disbursed some 25
billion US dollars of the registered capital, operating in different
parts of the country.
Xinhua - February 20, 2003.
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