Foreign licenses in Vietnam regulated

Foreign licenses in Vietnam regulated

HANOI (AFP): Vietnam's State Committee for Cooperation and Investment has set new rules for granting licenses for foreign investment in the hotel, garment and footwear industries, press reports said Saturday.

Under the new guidelines licenses for foreign investment will not be granted where a project can be undertaken by local enterprises.

These include jobwork projects in the garment industry and hotels that do not meet international "3-star" standards, the weekly Thoi Bao Kinh The Vietnam (Vietnam Economic Times), said.

For the hotel industry, the committee set new criteria for the number of rooms, floor space, amount of investment and period of operation.

New hotels should have a minimum of 150 rooms, floor space of 8,000 square meters and an investment of US$8 million in Ho Chi Minh City. The figures for Hanoi are 100 rooms, 5,000 square meters and $5 million. New hotels in Haiphong, Vung Tau, Nha Trang and Danang must have 50 rooms, 2,500 square meters and $2.5 million investment.

Periods of operation have been set at 20 years for investments up to $10 million, 25 years for $10-15 million, 30 years for $15-25 million, 35 years for $25-40 million, 40 years for $40-50 million, and 45 years for more than $50 million.

For the garment and footwear industry, a minimum of 80 percent of products from joint ventures or firms under economic cooperation contracts must be exported. Where there is 100 percent foreign investment, 90 percent of output must be exported.

Vietnam also set the maximum capital investment for garment enterprises with a production capacity of one million units per year at $2 million and at $3 million for shoe manufacturers.