Vietnam – investment destination for many French businesses

At present, France ranks 16^th among the countries and territories investing in Vietnam. However, the ripple of French finance coming into the country has not yet become a wave of investment as most of its projects such as BNP Paribas, Total, Schneider Electric, Alstom Grid and Renault, were carried out in the first phases of foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction.

French businesses operate in diversified fields, ranging from food, agriculture, pharmaceutics, and cosmetics to energy. Recently, some French firms have increased their investments in the country, as seen with Auchan and its US$500 million retail network plan. Last year, Auchan signed a cooperation memorandum of understanding on developing an Auchan supermarket as part of the Summer Square shopping centre project owned by Gotec Land in Ho Chi Minh City.

Schneider Electric, one of earliest investors of the European nation in Vietnam, inaugurated a new plant in Saigon Hi-tech Park in District 9, HCM City in April 2017, covering a total production and office area of over 12,000 m2.  The facility, built at a cost of US$45 million in the first phase, is one of the large production factories in the French multinational group’s global supply system of more than 200 production centres.

In addition, recent years have also seen an increasing number of French visitors to Vietnam.

According to French Ambassador to Vietnam, Vincent Floreani, French businesses want to intensify investments into the country as shown by their desire to seek more information from the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam (CCIFV) about the country’s market and its investment mechanisms and policies and the process of entering the market.