More FDI to reach southern region

Talking to VIR about the business plan, general director of Ajinomoto Vietnam Company Limited Keiji Kanedo said that after 27 years of investing in Vietnam, the company has set up two factories in Bien Hoa I Industrial Zone (IZ) and Long Thanh IZ.

Moreover, their five distribution centres in Vietnam are creating more than 2,400 jobs nationwide. Not limited to products which popularise the Ajinomoto brand, they have also developed a wide range of other products, from food and drinks to bio-fertiliser.

According to Keiji, one of the company’s strengths is that they heavily invest in research and development (R&D), currently employing 30 R&D specialists, in order to create new products fitting consumers’ requirements.

“We are planning to build a new 8ha factory to manufacture food in Long Thanh IZ,” said a representative of Ajinomoto Vietnam, adding that the company is considering to invest more in bio-fertiliser production.

Besides Ajinomoto, other “senior” and large-scale foreign-invested companies have also decided to increase investment capital and expand their businesses.

German group Bosch was granted the adjusted investment certificate by Dong Nai, adding $71 million to its manufacturing plant in Long Thanh IZ.

In June 2017, Bosch announced an investment of $47 million in the factory in Dong Nai. Back in 2015 and 2016, Bosch also increased capital for the factory by $23 million and $22 million, respectively.

These investments, according to Bosch’s representative, are earmarked for machinery importation, setting up new production lines responding to the rising demand for push belts in Asian and Southeast Asian markets. So far, Bosch’s total investment capital in Vietnam has reached $380 million.

Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical project by OPV Pharmaceutical JSC from Singapore at Bien Hoa II IZ got an additional capital of $47.7 million. Correspondingly, the company’s investment in Vietnam has reached $70 million.

Welcoming large-scale projects

According to Nguyen Thanh Truc, director general of the Binh Duong Department of Planning and Development, in the first nine months of 2018, the province has attracted more than US$1.3 billion of FDI and the figure is expected to surge.

“Horasis Asia Meeting convened in Binh Duong this November, which will bring together about 700 of the foremost leaders from Vietnam and Asia, is a golden opportunity for Binh Duong to boost investment in the province,” he said, adding that Binh Duong is going to grant investment certificates to new foreign-invested projects, some of which possess quite large capital.

According to Le Hoai Quoc, head of the Management Board of Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP), a large number of multinational groups and global brands have come to Vietnam looking for chances to invest in this promising land. Notably, 16 years after going on stream, SHTP has attracted $5.4 billion of FDI, including the world’s top multinational businesses and hi-tech enterprises, namely Intel, Samsung, and Nidec.

Quoc added that there are large-scale projects which are going to be granted certificates to invest in SHTP. Specifically, Nidec’s proposal to build an R&D centre in SHTP is being considered and will be certificated right after the proposal is approved.

Nidec have been carrying out five projects in precision mechanics with a combined investment of nearly $500 million in SHTP.

In the meantime, SHTP is in the last steps of convincing a Silicon Valley-based company specializing in making batteries for Tesla's electric vehicles to invest in Ho Chi Minh City.

If approved, the project is expected to have an investment of $500 million, according to the head of SHTP.