Sharing Mr Phuc’s views, Minister and Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Institute of Politics Le Huu Nghia said the formation of IPs and EPZs is one of the important solutions for attracting development investment capital, particularly foreign investment capital. Therefore, these IPs and EPZs are required to ensure economic efficiency and environmental sustainability.

Deputy head of the National Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee Dang Nhu Loi said the living conditions of migrant workers at IPs and EPZs remain poor, as current policies and mechanism cannot keep up with the economic growth rate in these localities. This is a hot issue, which need solving, stressed Mr Loi.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, since Tan Thuan EPZ was first established in Vietnam in 1991, Vietnam had had 135 IPs established with total natural land area of 27,748 ha by the end of April 2006. Of the total, 81 IPs are operating with total natural land area of 17,705ha.

By April 2006, all IPs across the country had attracted more than 2,400 local-invested projects capitalised at VND116,000 billion and 2,200 foreign-invested projects with total registered capital of nearly US$18 billion.