HCM City expects new wave of US investment via TPP
Ho Chi Minh City are working to catch a new wave of investment from the United States as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was sealed early this year.
Statistics by the municipal Department of Planning and Investment show that the city lured 26 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, worth US$135.4 million, from the US last year.
Bigger numbers are expected this year as Vietnam remains among three priority markets for future business expansion of US companies in ASEAN, according to the ASEAN Business Outlook Survey in 2016 by the US Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Singapore. About 31 percent of respondents region-wide indicated their plans to expand in the country.
The US pumped more than US$630 million into 321 FDI projects in Ho Chi Minh City, making it the twelfth largest out of 74 countries and territories investing in the city.
US investment mainly focuses on projects in real estate, banking, services and technology.
A group of US investors, including Steelman Partners, Cantor Fitzgerald and Weidner Resorts Vietnam met with the city’s authority in early May to seek an investment permit for a 4-billion-USD complex of shopping and office buildings in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area.
They are among many others who are looking for investment opportunity in the southern economic hub.
To translate the potential into reality, the city has put effort into administrative reforms, particularly in terms of business registration.
Since May 19, it only takes a company four days to be granted a business registration certificate.