Hanoi says trying to satisfy foreign investors HANOI- Vietnam insisted on Tuesday it was trying to meet the demands of foreign investors frustrated with the country's bureaucracy and high-cost business environment. Tran Xuan Gia, minister of planning and investment, said the communist leadership was creating a stable environment for foreign companies to do business and endeavouring to cut costs. Speaking on the sidelines of the opening of the country's National Assembly, Gia referred to measures announced in March that were intended to gradually lower a variety of business costs for foreign firms. He told reporters that falling foreign investment inflows was part of a trend in Asia, something Vietnam could do little to control. ``Investment is declining not only in Vietnam,'' Gia said. Underscoring Vietnam's fading business lustre, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told National Assembly delegates that inflows of foreign investment reached $250 million from January-April, well down on the previous period. He gave no clear comparison, but said the figures showed a marked decline. Dung also said foreign investment pledges in the first four months were $358 million, from $1.07 billion in the same period last year. Foreign investors complain that Vietnam is an expensive place to make money and in danger of lagging further behind its leaner, more competitive Asian neighbours. One of the March measures will enable foreign firms to denominate wages for local staff in the dong currency from July 1. Local wages currently must be denominated in U.S. dollars. Asked about confusion over the move, Gia said it would apply to entities under the Law on Foreign Investment. Such a policy would apply to wholly-owned foreign firms and joint ventures, but leaves a question mark over representative offices and branches of foreign banks and law firms. Gia said the wage policy for these institutions fell under relevant labour codes, but he declined to say if banks and law firms could set dong-denominated salaries from July 1. Reuters - May 4, 1999.