Foreign investors are 'both friends and partners of Hai Phong'

The Hai Phong Party Committee, the People's Committee, and leaders of various departments recently held a meeting and dialogue with FDI enterprises in 2024 under the theme "FDI Enterprises Growing Together with Hai Phong City; Innovation, Sustainable Economic Development, and Shared Economy; Connecting Businesses to the Global Supply Chain."

More than 900 FDI enterprises operating in various sectors in Hai Phong shared and proposed unresolved challenges and obstacles to the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, city leaders, departments, and local authorities.

Mr. Le Tien Chau, Member of the Central Party Committee and Secretary of the Hai Phong Party Committee, acknowledged that the concerns of the businesses are legitimate, many of which involve difficult or new issues that Vietnamese law is currently in the process of addressing.

For the legitimate requests from businesses, he urged departments to resolve them thoroughly and provide timely feedback to the companies. For issues related to legal obstacles, the Standing Committee of the Party Committee assigned the city’s People's Committee to promptly make specific recommendations to the central government to expedite the resolution of these issues.

"Personally, along with the members of the Standing Committee of the City Party, we will proactively and decisively lead and direct so that the commitments made today with businesses will soon yield results, addressing as many of the needs of foreign-invested enterprises in the city as possible," Mr. Le Tien Chau affirmed.

In recent years, Hai Phong has achieved significant milestones, particularly in socio-economic development, with economic growth in double digits for nine consecutive years, making it a bright spot in the national landscape.

The city has also seen impressive growth in attracting FDI, consistently ranking among the top in the country in terms of registered investment capital, and it continues to become increasingly attractive to foreign investors.

The FDI sector has made a particularly important contribution to the development of Hai Phong, not only economically but also socially. Foreign investment capital is a crucial part of the city's total social investment, and FDI enterprises are a key driver of Hai Phong's socio-economic development.

In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution making significant strides and becoming a global trend, the city's leadership has become increasingly aware of the role of FDI enterprises in promoting innovation in growth models and shifting the economic structure from extensive to intensive development, linked with the application of scientific and technological advances.

FDI enterprises are an important part of Hai Phong's business community, and foreign investors are not only friends and partners but also honorary citizens of Hai Phong.

"FDI enterprises must succeed and grow strongly for Hai Phong to achieve its goals of industrialization and modernization, as directed by the Politburo. We share a common goal, vision, and responsibility to work together to develop FDI enterprises, contributing collectively to the development of Hai Phong city and the country," said Mr. Le Tien Chau.

At this forum, the leadership of Hai Phong city pledged to always accompany and give special attention, providing practical and effective support to further promote the development of the FDI enterprise sector.

To effectively fulfill these commitments and enhance the role of these enterprises, as well as to quickly realize the goal of making Hai Phong a leading city in the country’s industrialization and modernization, Mr. Le Tien Chau outlined seven solutions for focused leadership and also raised four issues for FDI enterprises and investors to address.

“I hope that the FDI enterprises attending today's conference will become friends and economic connectors between Hai Phong and the global economy. Hai Phong is ready to accompany and create the best possible conditions for businesses to grow, ensuring that all enterprises receive equal attention. The success of businesses is the development of the city and the success of the government,” emphasized Mr. Le Tien Chau, Secretary of the Hai Phong City Party Committee.

Currently, Hai Phong city hosts 985 active foreign-invested projects with a total registered investment capital of 31 billion USD. Among these, projects in the industrial manufacturing sector account for over 83% of the total investment capital; real estate and infrastructure projects make up 14% of the capital; while the remaining projects are in the fields of commercial services, transportation, and mining.