Part 2: Opportunity for acquiring advanced technology

Part 1: Attraction of grand investment resource

With its available advantages, Binh Duong has attracted the attention of investors from APEC members. As a result, billions of dollars of capital resources, machinery and modern technologies belonging to APEC members have come to Binh Duong to help them become one of the major centers for commodity production in the country.

Garment production is on-going at Esquel Vietnam Co. Ltd. located in Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park 1 in Thuan An Town. Photo: Quoc Chien

Advanced technology

In 1990s, Korean enterprises and many other businesses from APEC members alike came to Binh Duong to mainly invest in textiles and footwear. In 2008, The investment of Kumho Tires Vietnam Co., Ltd. (invested by Kumho Tires Group – a famous group for tire production) has invested US$ 200 million to operate in My Phuoc Industrial Park 3 in Ben Cat Town. After Kumho, many South Korean enterprises having high technology content and less labor intensity have created great value of investments in the province including Yongho Vina Co., Ltd., Staz Vietnam Co., Ltd., and Daeha Cable Vietnam in many fields of steel pipe, electronic equipment, automobile equipment, and auxiliary products for other industries.

South Korea is the third largest investor in the country with 569 projects of a total registered capital of more than US$ 2.5 billion. Among these, the collaboration between Kolon Industries and Becamex IDC is prominent. Accordingly, the Kolon Industrie Group has leased land in the expanded Bau Bang Industrial Park - an area of ​​nearly 42 hectares to develop a project to produce fiber for automobile tires, automobile air bags and other products in Viet Nam. Total estimated investment capital for all three phases of the project is about US$ 1 billion. It is expected to be completed and put into production by mid-2018. This is the third production facility of Kolon Industries after two plants operating in Korea and China.

Many APEC investors said that Binh Duong has good industrial infrastructure, clean land fund, abundant labor force, and convenient transportation network with provinces and cities. This is a very important condition for businesses to choose for investment destination. As a result, many businesses from APEC members have increased their investment and long-term commitment in Binh Duong.

Practicing large and fast capital growth, KyungBang Viet Nam Co., Ltd. (belonging to KyungBang Group of Korea) has a high level of science and technology in the province. In May 5, 2013, the company put into operation a factory of US$ 40 million in Bau Bang Industrial Park. After only one year of operation, the company has increased its investment capital by more than US$ 54.2 million to expand the production of high quality cotton yarn serving the textile and garment industry in Vietnam and exportation. Lee Kap Soo, General Director of KyungBang Vietnam Co., Ltd. said that Vietnam in general and Binh Duong in particular has a very favorable and efficient investment environment. Therefore, investing in the locality is the right and timely decision of KyungBang.

Developing community

It is not only Korean enterprises who constantly innovate technologies and improve their production and business capacity, thereby transferring technologies to domestic production forces, investors from the US, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and so on have well done. Recently, Active International Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) has signed a cooperation with Becamex IDC to implement the project of bicycle industry of 80 ha in Bau Bang Industrial Park. The total investment capital of the project is nearly US$ 250 million.

Tsai Wen Jui, CEO of Active International, said that the investment environment in Binh Duong is highly appreciated by Taiwanese businesses. Therefore, Active International decided to choose Bau Bang industrial park to implement the project. When the project of the specialized bicycle industry is put into operation, it is expected that there will be about 45 - 60 enterprises and nearly 10,000 laborers to be involved in producing bicycle parts and plastic components.

The coordinated development of the community, capital investment, and modern technology transfer to the management and production in the local area in the past have much attributed to Japanese investors. Only in Binh Duong, businesses from Japan have invested into 249 projects with a total registered capital of over US$ 5.2 billion, ranking second and accounting for 18.7% of total direct investment in FDI in the province. Most of the projects of investors from this country use modern technologies, friendly with the environment to create a large trade surplus value.

Kawaue Junichi, Consul General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong asserted that Binh Duong is one of the localities of Vietnam attracting quite large Japanese businesses to invest. With many companies, Japanese corporations continue to choose Binh Duong to invest as a good signal in attracting foreign investment of Binh Duong. This shows that the investment environment of Binh Duong province is attractive to Japanese enterprises in particular and to foreign investors in general.

It can be said that the right orientation in the strategies of attracting investment from generations of provincial leaders has created a strong premise for Binh Duong to confidently attract high-tech resources from APEC members and countries in the world in general. Therefore, Binh Duong not only has a good resource for socio-economic development but also gradually becomes a center of large modern commodity of production for investors in the world to choose.

(To be continued)

Reported by Khanh Vinh – Translated by Vi Bao