Tran Phu Electrical Mechanical Co makes electrical wire. A UN report has applauded Viet Nam's 'impressive transformation' from an agricultural-based economy to one with a booming private sector.

Bangladeshi Ambassador to the UN Debapriya-Bhattacharya, who chaired the UNCTAD meeting, said Viet Nam deserved special attention from the international community due to its "impressive growth and booming foreign investment."

The UNCTAD report, as well as remarks by Bhattacharya and UNCTAD acting deputy secretary-general Lakshmi Puri, highlighted Viet Nam's success in the attraction and disbursement of foreign capital.

"Viet Nam has undergone an impressive process of transformation from an isolated, poor and collectivised agriculture-based economy into a booming nation with a dynamic and diversified private sector coexisting with a large public sector, fully integrated into the world economy. It underscores that poverty has been reduced at one of the fastest rates in history," said the UNCTAD report.

"The report shares our viewpoint that FDI is a driving force for economic growth and poverty alleviation and that FDI contributions to Viet Nam's development are greater than in any country in the region," said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, who led a Vietnamese delegation to the meeting.

Representatives from Singapore, Japan and France praised Viet Nam as a top investment destination and an important link in the global economic chain.

The international community acknowledged three factors contributing to Viet Nam's foreign investment boom: its renewal policies, transformation to a market-orientated economy, and an "open-door" policy towards international economic integration.

Singapore Ambassador to the UN Tan York Chor said the Vietnamese Government has systematically adopted and enforced many breakthrough policies to attract foreign investors.

Daisaku Sugihara, a trade negotiator from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said foreign direct investment has played an important role in Viet Nam's economic development, poverty reduction, job generation and international economic integration.

To further improve its investment policies and environment, participants at the meeting suggested the nation focus on renewing its legal system, simplifying administrative procedures, and creating a more level playing field for domestic and foreign investors, as well as training more qualified human resource, enforcing intellectual property rights, and protecting the environment.

Hai vowed that Viet Nam would continue to improve its investment climate, perfect its market economy, and fully realise bilateral and multilateral agreements it has entered, including WTO commitments.

Viet Nam was trying to leap out of the group of low-income countries by 2010, Hai said, and intended to make full use of all external and internal resources for development.

The Vietnamese delegation was confident that UNCTAD's Investment Policy Review of Viet Nam would help ignite a new wave of FDI into the country, Hai said, noting that Viet Nam was one of the six most attractive economies for foreign investors as defined by the Global Investment Prospect 2007.

Hai stressed that there were good opportunities for investment in Viet Nam, especially in infrastructure development, hi-tech industries, IT, biotechnology, healthcare, banking and finance, and education.

To attract more investment, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has recently asked the Government to open up a number of sectors to foreign investment earlier than required under WTO commitments, including culture, healthcare, education, communications, maritime transportation and aviation.

Early opening would help boost investment in infrastructure, which remains one of the country's weak points and a hindrance to the nation's competitiveness.

The ministry is comprehensively scrutinising and revising the country's master plans on infrastructure through 2020 with an eye to promoting foreign investment in water supply and drainage projects, environmental hygiene, highway construction, railway services, seaports and logistics.

Since joining the WTO in 2007, Viet Nam has seen foreign investment grow to a record US$64 billion last year.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News