Review of FDI projects needed: former minister

Phan Huu Thang, former head of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency, has also called for a comprehensive review of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in different fields, industries and localities.

In an article penned for the Vietnam Economic Times newspaper to mark 30 years of Vietnam receiving FDI (2017), Thang said past experience would help the country set new development trends for foreign investment in the context of changes in the international and regional situations.

These included terrorism, incursions into territorial waters, complicated relationships among big countries, slow growth of the global economy, he added.

“It is a must that in the times ahead, State management focuses on how to efficiently use FDI to sustainably develop the country’s society and economy,” Thang said.

In making FDI decisions, Vietnam should not just see it as a foreign capital resource for development, but also consider its implications for the “environment, national security, culture, national economic independence and self-control,” he stressed.

He said the State should limit to the maximum potential threats to economic independence, ensure social order and security (he referred to the Australian Government refusing to let Chinese investors participate in an electricity grid project), define nationality of investors, establish a balance between foreign and domestic investment, and draw up a list of sensitive fields and industries that cannot be opened to foreign investment.

Vietnam should focus on attracting FDI into high-tech agriculture and services sectors including tourism, and limit it in real estate, logistics, retail and wholesale sectors.

“Such industries should be given to domestic investors,” he said.