Officials in southern localities are more conservative and uneasy about issuing licenses to foreign investors, putting the country’s south at a disadvantage to the north, a conference has heard.
Foreign investors were still experiencing many difficulties understanding and complying with license procedures.
The conference, held Friday with the participation of senior provincial and municipal officials, said foreign investors’ hopes of simpler investment formalities in Vietnam in the post-WTO era had so far not been met.
Frederic Burke, Baker & McKenzie’s managing partner, said foreign investors faced many more challenges in licensing formalities in southern cities and provinces, such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Long An, than in the North.
The cumbersome procedures were one of the main reasons high-tech investments were migrating from the country’s south to the north, Burke told the conference, hosted by the Foreign Investment Bureau under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Phan Thi Thuy Dung, senior manager of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ legal services, said foreign investors found it hard to operate education projects in HCMC because of a decision by the city’s leaders to restrict the number of schools in urban districts to reduce traffic jams.
Burke said obtaining licenses in the education sector had become even harder since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in January 2007.
He said in order to open a representative office in the southern region, a foreign investor had to apply for sub-licenses from 12 agencies from local to provincial levels before seeking approval from the Ministry of Education and Training.
Such cumbersome practices would weaken the supply of well-trained employees in Vietnam, exacerbating the skills shortage that has stymied the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods and services in international markets, he said.
Foreign investors were still experiencing many difficulties understanding and complying with license procedures.
The conference, held Friday with the participation of senior provincial and municipal officials, said foreign investors’ hopes of simpler investment formalities in Vietnam in the post-WTO era had so far not been met.
Frederic Burke, Baker & McKenzie’s managing partner, said foreign investors faced many more challenges in licensing formalities in southern cities and provinces, such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Long An, than in the North.
The cumbersome procedures were one of the main reasons high-tech investments were migrating from the country’s south to the north, Burke told the conference, hosted by the Foreign Investment Bureau under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Phan Thi Thuy Dung, senior manager of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ legal services, said foreign investors found it hard to operate education projects in HCMC because of a decision by the city’s leaders to restrict the number of schools in urban districts to reduce traffic jams.
Burke said obtaining licenses in the education sector had become even harder since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in January 2007.
He said in order to open a representative office in the southern region, a foreign investor had to apply for sub-licenses from 12 agencies from local to provincial levels before seeking approval from the Ministry of Education and Training.
Such cumbersome practices would weaken the supply of well-trained employees in Vietnam, exacerbating the skills shortage that has stymied the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods and services in international markets, he said.
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