Dang Xuan Quang, deputy director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, made this statement during the FDI Manufacturers Gathering Day at the Viet Nam Singapore Industrial Park in northern Bac Ninh Province yesterday, Oct 28.

The VCCI and Asian Trade City Company Ltd. organised the one-day event, with about 200 companies taking part. It aimed to help companies in the north to boost production and business operations.

Quang said the Government was formulating policies that would further encourage foreign investors to come to Viet Nam. He added that the Vietnamese government was determined to improve policies to create a competitive investment environment.

At the event, participants were informed of the Vietnamese macro-economic situation, FDI environment and policies and FDI enterprises’ activities.

Quang also revealed that Viet Nam’s FDI disbursements in the first 10 months of 2014 showed signs of recovery but has yet to reach the same level as that of last year.

According to Quang, as of end-October, Viet Nam had granted investment certificates to more than 1,300 new projects worth US$9.95 billion, a 23.9-per cent year-on-year decrease.

Also, as many as 469 projects have registered to increase their respective investments by a total amount of $3.74 billion.

During the period, exactly 56 countries and territories invested in Viet Nam, with South Korea ranking first with $3.6 billion, or 26.3 per cent of total investments, followed by Singapore with $2.64 billion or 19.3 per cent of total investments. Hong Kong ranked third and Japan, fourth.

The manufacturing sector accounted for the largest amount of investments, with 70.8 per cent, followed by real estate and construction.

HCM City attracted the largest FDI amount with $2.85 billion, or 20.8 per cent of total FDI, followed by Bac Ninh with $1.38 billion, or 10.1 per cent.

"Lots of big investment projects received certificates from 2012 to 2013. In 2014, Viet Nam focused on disbursing the FDI and solving difficulties and obstacles for investors," Quang said.

He added that public administration reform has brought benefits to enterprises. For example, it took companies 557 hours per year to complete tax procedures in the past, but now it is down to 201 hours per year.

He revealed that the time needed to complete tax procedures would be further decreased to 171 hours, or equivalent to that of six ASEAN countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei.

The time needed to solve procedures for establishing enterprises has been shortened, from 32 days during the years 2005 to 2008 to only five days today.

Quang added that foreign investors in Viet Nam would have a good opportunity to approach a large market of 600 million people when the ASEAN Economic Community would become a reality in 2015.

At the event, Nguyen Nhan Chien, chairman of the Bac Ninh People’s Committee, said that as of September, the province had attracted 510 projects worth more than $8 billion.

"Bac Ninh commits to creating favourable conditions for FDI enterprises to enhance co-operation and expand business operations, as well as gather suggestions for submission to the Prime Minister," Chien added.