Mr Thang: The implementation of the Japan Free Investment Encouragement Agreement and the Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative has made Japanese investors feel more confident of doing business in Vietnam.

VOV: Vietnam has so far attracted US$10.2 billion FDI capital. What is the most important thing in FDI attraction?

Mr Thang: A high increase in FDI resulted from Vietnam’s improvement of its investment environment. However, Vietnam should further complete management and supporting policies for enterprises, especially for foreign invested companies which are operating in the country.

VOV: The Prime Minister has authorized the Ministry of Planning and Investment to draft a plan for FDI attraction. What is the crux of the matter?

Mr Thang: The MPI’s Foreign Investment Department is responsible for creating favourable conditions for the second inflow of FDI into Vietnam. The most important thing is to build an investment and trade environment which benefits foreign investors in accordance with international customs and the country’s law and policy, as well as orientations of foreign investment attraction in the future. In the draft, we tried to iron out snags in FDI attraction.

VOV: Could you cite some examples?

Mr Thang: “Breakthrough” phenomenon is one of the snags in FDI attraction but it is not a big problem. The Government continues to promote decentralized administration and license granting in localities. I think that the main snag lie in the investment environment itself, due to poor management of the organisation mechanism and legal system. We should iron out snags quickly as possible.

VOV: How to do it effectively?

Mr Thang: We should deal with each specific problem. Enterprises have to identify obstacles and barriers in customs, tax policies, local land clearance or management capacity to upgrade infrastructure facilities such as electricity and water supply projects. During the implementation of the second phase of Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative, we coordinated with the Japanese Enterprises Association to overcome such difficulties.

VOV: You have talked about promoting decentralised administration in localities. However, localities cannot deal with big and complicated projects owned by foreign investors. For example, the failure of South-central coastal Khanh Hoa province to control the transfer of investment projects has incurred huge losses.

Mr Thanh: There will be a lot of difficulties in the initial period due to lack of experience. We believe that the Government will devise measures to help localities with this work. Local officials will be provided with training courses on their rights and responsibilities. I believe that in the near future, with the Government’s comprehensive policy, decentralized administration and management will be successfully implemented in localities.

VOV: Thank you very much.