Vietnam reaps fruits of 30 years of FDI Thirty years have elapsed since Vietnam ratified the Foreign Investment Law in 1987. Foreign investors committed to invest $312.9 billion by the end of 2017, of which $170 billion was disbursed.    The chair of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises Association (VAFIEs), Nguyen Mai, commented that foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) have made great contributions to Vietnam’s export turnover by exporting valuable processed and manufactured products. The contribution by FIEs is even higher in cities/provinces where many foreign invested projects are located, such as Hanoi, HCMC, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen and Vinh Phuc. Bac Ninh province, for example, has shifted from an agricultural to an industrial province with industry and service value now accounting for 92 percent. FDI capital in the province registered in Bac Ninh by the end of 2017 had reached $15.5 billion, according to the local planning and investment department. According to the Foreign Investment Agency, $3.34 billion worth of FDI was committed in the first two months of 2018, while disbursed capital was $1.7 billion, an increase of 9.7 percent over the same period of 2017. “The topic for daily discussions in the provinces with large foreign invested projects like Bac Ninh is not how to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, but how to settle social problems arising during industrialization and migration,” Mai said. According to the Foreign Investment Agency, $3.34 billion worth of FDI was committed in the first two months of 2018, while disbursed capital was $1.7 billion, an increase of 9.7 percent over the same period of 2017. Hi-tech manufacturing  Le Hoai Quoc, head of HCMC Hi-tech Park (SHTP) Management Board, said that SHTP attracted $7 billion worth of investment in the last 15 years, including $5.3 billion worth of FDI. The hi-tech projects developed by Intel, Nidec and Samsung have helped add Vietnam to the global map of hi-tech manufacturers. Analysts commented that one of the most outstanding achievements in Vietnam’s FDI attraction has been the establishment of production bases which make smartphones, computers, electronics and home appliances for export. These products make up an increasingly high proportion of all of Vietnam’s exports, about 30 percent, worth $65 billion. Samsung alone has poured $17 billion into smartphone, electronics and electrical engineering projects in Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen and HCMC in the last 10 years. Experts from Standard Chartered Bank have predicted that Vietnam will continue seeing strong FDI inflow this year, especially in the manufacturing sector. A survey by EuroCham showed that more than 900 members of the association are optimistic about their business performance in Vietnam and the investment environment, while JETRO’s (Japan External Trade Organization) survey found that 70 percent of Japanese enterprises want to scale up their business in Vietnam. Mai Thanh, VNN