S'pore overtakes Taiwan in Vietnam

S'pore overtakes Taiwan in Vietnam

HANOI (AFP): Singapore has become the number one foreign
investor in terms of approved investments in Vietnam, overtaking
Taiwan, a source at Singapore's embassy here said yesterday.

The embassy source said Singapore has projects worth about
US$4.7 billion in approved investment, with close to 150 projects
licensed.

Second-ranking Taiwan has 263 projects worth nearly $4
billion, according to a report in the Thanh Nien newspaper
yesterday.

Singapore was catapulted into the top spot after a massive
$2.1 billion satellite city project outside Hanoi received a
license at the end of last year.

South Thang Long, a 392.5-hectare (940-acre) development north
of Hanoi, is being developed by Indonesia's Ciputra Group through
Singaporean subsidiary Development Planning Investment Pte. Ltd.

The $2.11 billion project will eventually house 200,000 people
and include offices and possibly a golf course,

The embassy source said much of the Singapore-registered
investment reflects deals routed through the city-state by
overseas investors.

"We encourage foreign companies to use Singapore to do
business through affiliates so they can take advantage of our
financial services," the source said.

South Korea is ranked third with more than $2.5 billion in
projects and Japan ranks fourth with $2.4 billion.

Vietnam has licensed more than $28 billion of foreign projects
so far but only around a quarter of this amount has been
disbursed.

A number of high-profile investments have been withdrawn or
put on hold over the past year because of uncertainties about the
country's market development.