FDI businesses ask for further improved infrastructure

Hanoi (VNA) - FDI businesses urged the Vietnamese government and relevant ministries and sectors to further improve infrastructure and simplify customs procedures to better support businesses in overcoming impacts of the global economic crisis.

They submitted proposals regarding tax reduction and exemption, and the streamlining
of tax procedures and improvement of export policy to help remove difficulties in
production and export.

FDI businesses presented those proposals at their meeting with representatives from
the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Hanoi on April 3.

Okazaki Masahiro, a representative of Panasonic Vietnam Company, pointed to
infrastructure and customs procedures as the two thorny issues challenging FDI
businesses.

The Vietnamese Government's improvement of infrastructure will help 'businesses
catch up with the market demand when the global economic crisis is over', the
Japanese businessman said.

Sharing the view, Mark Barnett - Director of the wholly foreign-invested Son Ha
Spice Essence Co. Ltd in northern Bac Ninh province, also remarked that the
Vietnamese Government should develop a more transparent management system equipped
with competent personnel to enable their better coordination with businesses.

At the meeting, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang assured FDI businesses
of the Vietnamese Government's consistent policy of treating all businesses equally
while reporting that his ministry is inquiring into difficulties facing FDI
businesses to promptly remove them.

The ministry will work on a new decree on modernising customs procedures to submit
to the Government for approval this year, Minister Hoang said.

He highlighted the trial application of e-customs clearance in Ho Chi Minh City and
Hai Phong port city as a step towards realising the target of providing e-customs
service for as many as 90 percent of applicants by 2012, the level in other
Southeast Asian countries.

For its part, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said it has already submitted
to the Prime Minister several prioritised solutions regarding law, planning,
infrastructure improvements and human resource development in order to further
perfect business environment in Vietnam.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, FDI businesses generated about 40
percent of the national export value in recent years and the figure reached over 55
percent in 2008.

However, in the first two months, FDI businesses gained an export value of close to
3 billion USD, a decrease of 9 percent compared to
the same period last year, due to impacts of the economic recession.

The FDI businesses' export decline is forecast to be 10-15 percent for the whole
year.-Enditem