FOXCONN’S LAPTOP PLANT IN BAC GIANG AND IMPLICATIONS FOR VIET NAM

The Bac Giang Provincial People’s Committee on Monday awarded a license Taiwan’s Foxconn to build a US$270 laptop and tablet plant in the northern locality.

This is among four foreign-invested projects with combined registered capital of US$570 million that got licenses from the local authorities on the same day.

The projects send out a positive message to the wider world that Viet Nam remains a favorite destination for foreign investment but experts says localities need to stay prepared to welcome new wave of investment.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the project indicates that Government’s great efforts to improve business climate have brought about tangible outcomes in the context that multinational business giants are planning supply chain diversification and optimization.

Attraction of foreign investors like Foxconn is in line with the guidelines enshrined in the Resolution No. 50-NQ/TW dated August 20, 2019 of the Politburo providing orientations for improving institutions, policies and efficiency of foreign investment cooperation through 2030.

Under the Resolution, Viet Nam gives priority to luring projects using advanced, new, high, and clean technologies and modern management that help improve the country’s position in global production and supply chain.

The Resolution targets to increase linkages between foreign and domestic investment, support local businesses to partner with foreign-invested ones.

Localities must be decisive, stand ready

By the end of last year, total foreign investment inflows to Bac Giang was home to only 476 foreign-invested projects worth US$6.17 billion. Though the figure remains modest, Bac Giang ranks among 12 localities most attractive to foreign investment.

Foxconn’s decision to choose Bac Giang as a venue for production of the tech giant’s strategic products indicates the attractiveness of the locality’s business environment and its capacity to meet requirements of the world’s top high-tech projects, said Le Anh Duong, Chairman of the Bac Giang Provincial People’s Committee.

The plant will give a boost to luring high-quality foreign investment wave into Bac Giang, thus helping the locality to accelerate socio-economic development in post-Coronavirus period, Duong said.

He recalled that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last year ordered the province to focus on advancing industrial production, considering it as the key driving force for growth and shift of economic structure in the locality.

The Government chief tasked Bac Giang to bring into full play of their abundant workforce while introducing more vocational training policies to enhance capacity of the workforce in order to grasp opportunities from the ongoing trend of manufacturing relocation.

Phuc also urged Bac Giang to exert ceaseless efforts in improving business climate with an aim to create most favorable conditions for investors, including detailed legal instructions for them.

Bac Giang has finalized a plan to build three new industrial parks and expand three others to prepare land fund for new wave of investment in 2021 and the years beyond.

The locality has raised the rate of trained labor force from 50.5 in 2016 to 70% in 2020 to meet labor demand of investors.

Commenting on the Foxconn’s project, Professor Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises spoke highly of the efforts made by Bac Giang authorities to grasp this opportunity.

Mai stressed that US$570 for first four projects in 2021 is an impressive figure compared to over US$6 billion that the locality has lured over the past three decades.

Source: VGP