The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), along with KOICA, held a ceremony to begin work on the project on March 28 in Hanoi.
Addressing the ceremony, MPI Deputy Minister Vu Dai Thang said the project seeks to build a national database system on investment promotion between Vietnam and foreign countries.
Also, it will greatly contribute to building and implementing e-government, boosting administrative reforms, creating investment procedures that are more transparent, and creating favorable conditions for foreign investors to run businesses in Vietnam, said Thang.
Once upgraded, the database is expected to help local and foreign enterprises to have easier access to investment information, saving both time and costs with streamlined administrative procedures.
Meanwhile, Kim Jinoh, country director of KOICA in Vietnam, said that the project, which is slated for operation in 2021, is aimed to help Vietnam complete its system to provide and manage overseas investment information in an accurate and effective manner.
Many policies to attract investment, investment cooperation formats, and providing online consulting services for enterprises, will be introduced via the project, the KOICA leader added.
Further, the project will share mutual data with other national information systems regarding business registration, bidding, and public investment.
Kim Young Chul, general secretary and vice chairman of the Korea Chamber of Business (Korcham) in Vietnam, said at the ceremony that Vietnam has drawn much attention from foreign investors and is also a key partner in South Korea’s New Southern Policy which is intended to expand ties with Southeast Asian nations and India.
Further, Vietnam has shifted its focus to investing in software, information and technology, which are the strengths of South Korea, alongside traffic infrastructure and power sectors.
However, many investors from South Korea and other countries have faced difficulties in fulfilling the administrative procedures to invest in Vietnam. Thus, the Korcham representative said that the launch of the project is essential to make investment procedures more transparent and help investors save much time and costs.
South Korea is Vietnam’s largest foreign direct investment (FDI) partner, with nearly US$64 billion in total registered capital, and the third largest overall trade partner of Vietnam. The two countries set a target of raising their bilateral trade to US$100 billion by 2020, from US$65.7 billion last year.
According to a strategic cooperation plan between the two countries for the 2016-2020 period, South Korea seeks to establish cooperation with Vietnam in the areas of transportation, public administration, healthcare, and education.