The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) holds 65 percent stake in the Lao-Viet Bank in Laos (Photo: VNA)As of January 2017, Vietnam had channeled almost 21.4 billion USD into 1,188 projects across 70 countries and territories, an official from the Ministry of Planning and Investment has said.
Of the total, 5.12 billion USD and 2.89 billion USD went respectively to 270 and 191 projects in the two neighbouring countries – Laos and Cambodia. Other investment destinations include Russia and Africa.
The majority of the Vietnamese investment went to the sectors of agro-forestry-fishery, telecommunication, mining, and healthcare services.
The Government has worked to facilitate domestic investors to move beyond borders, stated Doan Thanh Nghi, deputy head of the overseas investment desk of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Accordingly, the policy on overseas investment regulates that projects worth under 800 billion VND (35.1 million USD) and not in the group of conditional investment sectors can obtain investment licenses within 15 days without submission for approval of the Nation Assembly (NA) or the Prime Minister (PM). It will take three days for projects required to get NA or PM approval to receive licence certificates.
Licensing procedures, meanwhile, have been simplified and can be done online.
Conditional investment projects are those having impact on national defense-security, social order and safety, ecological environment, education and training, among others./.