Part 1: Attraction of grand investment resource

Binh Duong was established from Song Be Province before admission of Vietnam to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Then on, BInh Duong Province has been welcoming investors along with administrative procedure reforms and investment attraction from 21 APEC member economies.

Investors attracted

It can be affirmed that among the investment projects of APEC member economies in Binh Duong, Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Park Joint Venture Company (VSIP) is the most prominent one as a symbol of cooperation and friendship between Vietnam and APEC members in general and Vietnam and Singapore in particular. Since its founding, VSIP's industrial parks in Binh Duong have attracted 21 domestic investment projects with registered capital of VND 3,834 billion and 426 foreign investment projects with a total capital of USD 7.6 billion including projects of large corporations and companies investing in industries with high technological content and competitiveness.

The success of VSIP is also the door to open investment opportunities among APEC members and beyond. Dynamic Binh Duong of creativities has 20 years ago expanded the investment cooperation within APEC. One of the first important steps after Vietnam joined APEC is joining hands with Singapore as a great partner to set up VSIP.

VSIP is considered as an effective model project of business cooperation between Binh Duong and Singapore – an APEC member. Photo: H. Thanh

Chu Ying Piao, President of Chutex International Co., Ltd. in Song Than Industrial Park 2, said: "More than 20 years ago, after Vietnam joined the Association of Nations Southeast Asia (ASEAN) and then APEC, I came to Binh Duong for the first time under a delegation of the Singapore government seeking for investment opportunities. Since then, I have seen tremendous potentials in doing business in this locality. In fact, when the investing to our project in Binh Duong, we have been offered a lot of local help so the company has developed strongly.”

Hoang Duc Hien, former Ambassador of Singapore to Vietnam, said: "We always consider Binh Duong as a comprehensive and reliable partner for economic development. Over the years, Binh Duong is an attractive destination for many Singaporean investors. We believe that with the success of the VSIP model and the great opportunities opened up by APEC, many Singaporean investors in particular and APEC investors will come to Binh Duong. "

Binh Duong has not only attracted foreign capital resources from ASEAN but also taken advantage of all possibilities to invest in infrastructure construction and administrative reforms to attract investment capital resources from APEC. One of the major American investors investing in Binh Duong was American Standard, with a US$ 16.5 million of investments into sanitary ware production since 1997. The company's stable operation contributed to job creation for many laborers inside and outside the province. Recently, the company has transferred capital resources to some other partners in APEC and continue to expand production and business operations in Vietnam.

Amway Corporation (USA), in September 2015, operated a factory worth US$ 25 million in VSIP Industrial Park II. The plant is part of Amway Group's US$ 332 million global expansion plan.

Focusing on the fields of manufacture and creation

American Standard and Amway are two of the US investors choosing Binh Duong as production and business destination. Binh Duong is one of the provinces having the best infrastructure system in Vietnam, with the abundant human resources and active management team ready to support the business with a high sense of responsibility. In addition, the establishment of the factory in Binh Duong is also well served by the need to expand the market, seeking new growth opportunities thanks to the province's favorable location in the Southern Key Economic Zone.

Binh Duong, with favorable geographic position, efficient and friendly management coupled with continuous administrative reform efforts has created trust for APEC members throughout the years. From the beginning of the year, foreign investment in Binh Duong reached US$ 2.1 billion, rising by 28% over the same period last year, reaching 151% of the plan (US$ 1.4 billion) and by 58.3 % compared to the 5-year plan period of 2016-2020. In terms of total foreign investment in the country, Binh Duong is ranked fifth and accounts for 8.5% of the capital. Up to now, Binh Duong has 2,997 foreign investment projects with total registered capital of 28.2 billion USD. Achieving this result is thanks to Binh Duong continual good trade promotion, calling for investment. In addition, the investment environment and administrative reform have been improved, contributing to attracting investors' attention.

Besides, the transport infrastructure has been developed synchronously; the infrastructure of industrial zones of Binh Duong is increasingly invested in depth helping investors to do business with many advantages. Binh Duong has also prepared thousands of hectares of clean land, adjusted many ventilation mechanisms that create the best conditions for businesses. These things help Binh Duong to increasingly elevate its position in the eyes of investors. Most of the investment packages from the 21 APEC member economies are focused on processing and manufacturing; many projects have high technology content with less intensive but modern labor resources.

It can be said that the resources from APEC in recent years have contributed to the rapid change of Binh Duong with successful socio-economic achievements. This shows the good intentions of APEC since its inception: Prosperity and development together. (To be continued)

Reported by Khanh Vinh – Translated by Vi Bao