Positive signs of investment inflows have been seen during meetings between National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and executives from many big European firms on the occasion of Hue's working visit to the European Parliament and a number of European countries from September 5-11. 

 

Those meetings show that large corporations, such as Exxon Mobil, Infra Asia Invest, Siemens Energy AG and Orsted Group, are still very interested in investing in Vietnam. 

 

Christian Bruch, Chairman, General Director of Siemens Energy AG (Germany) affirmed the company's desire to participate in energy projects in Vietnam, saying that he will continue to seek investment opportunities in this field in the future.

 

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Orsted Group, which runs 27 wind power projects in the world, did not hide its ambition to form a joint venture or association with T&T Group to research and invest in wind power projects in Vietnam.

 

The US’s Exxon Mobil is determined to pursue the Ca Voi Xanh (Blue Whale) project, Vietnam’s gas field offshore, with an estimated capital of tens of billions of dollars. In addition, the corporation has mapped out a plan to pour investment in another gas-fuelled power project in Hai Phong and this plan gets support from Vietnam.

 

Infra Asia Investment (IAI) has invested in industrial parks in Hai Phong city and Quang Ninh province with an investment capital of 1.2 billion USD. Fabien De Jonge, a member of the Board of Directors of IAI, said that it is planning to expand its investment activities in the field of renewable energy including wind power and solar power.

 

Regarding information that the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures might cause foreign investors to leave Vietnam,  Alain Cany, Chairman of EuroCham Vietnam said that these are mainly “transfer of orders and is a temporary decision of businesses” and “no European businesses have left Vietnam yet.”

 

According to the EuroCham Vietnam chairman, although some orders have moved out of Vietnam, investors still stay in the country. The hesitation, if any, is only for some new investors who are making new investment decisions.

 

HSBC said in a recently published report relating to this issue: “Despite possible challenges, Vietnam is still an attractive destination for investors in Vietnam in the future.”

 

According to HSBC, Vietnam's strong foundational conditions will help offset short-term fluctuations caused by COVID-19. The fact that LG Display has just made an additional investment of 1.4 billion USD to increase OLED screen production in the country is a typical example. Previously, in February this year, LG Display had hiked capital by 750 million USD.

 

With positive moves from large corporations in combination with optimistic information from Europe and strong foundation conditions of Vietnam, it can be expected that the prospect of attracting foreign direct investment in Vietnam is bright./.

 

VNA