Hong Kong is biggest investor in Vietnam

Hong Kong is biggest investor in Vietnam

HANOI (Reuter): Asian companies continued to dominate foreign
investment in communist Vietnam in the first nine months of this
year, with Hong Kong firms in the lead, the government said on
Saturday.

The State Committee for Cooperation and Investment (SCCI),
which judges investment applications, said Hong Kong companies
had 39 projects approved with total investment capital of US$441
million.

They were followed by Taiwan, with 42 projects worth $269
million, and Singapore, with 22 projects with capital of $250
million, according to figures listed in the Vietnam Investment
Review (VIR), published by the SCCI.

Japan, often criticized here for being slow to invest, had 18
projects approved worth $170 million, placing it fifth in the
list of investors so far this year. Switzerland, involved in a
$200 million cement plant, came in fourth with $235 million of
investment from five projects.

U.S. companies, freed to invest in Vietnam last February when
President Bill Clinton lifted an economic embargo, were the sixth
biggest investors, with 13 projects approved this year with total
capital of $165 million.

But the United States remained in 14th position on the overall
list of investors since 1988, when Vietnam opened up the economy
to foreign investment.

Taiwan remained in top place, with 144 projects worth $1.8
billion, followed by Hong Kong with 157 schemes worth $1.4
billion and South Korea with 78 projects with capital of $754
million.

The SCCI licensed its 1,000th foreign investment project last
week, VIR said. Total investment pledges, which passed $10
billion last month, were now $10.25 billion, it added.

Oil and gas, industry and hotels and tourism are the main
sectors in which foreign investors have shown interest.