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Việt Nam to attract more foreign investment in high-tech industryProduction at the Vina Kraft Paper Co., Ltd, a Thai-invested firm in BìnhDương Province. Many foreign companies already have invested or soughtinvestment opportunities in Việt Nam. VNA/VNS Photo Dương GiangHÀ NỘI – Việt Nam will lure more foreign investment in the high-tech sector byoffering more incentives and amending requirements for high-tech businesses.Việt Nam’s high-tech industry has seen a new investment wave. Last week, thenorthern coastal province of Quảng Ninh held a ceremony to grant a licence forJinko Solar Technology Ltd of Hong Kong to invest in a photovoltaic celltechnology project worth US$500 million.Austrian printed circuit board manufacturer AT&S has been studying severallocations in Việt Nam to build two factories worth 1.5 billion euros ($1.78billion).The company will make a decision on the location in mid-April and startconstruction at the end of this year. It expects to complete work within ayear.Đỗ Nhất Hoàng, Director of the Foreign Investment Agency (Ministry of Planningand Investment), said the new investment wave in the high-tech sector wasbecause tech giants like Samsung, Foxconn, Luxshare, and Intel had ramped uptheir investment and production capacity in Việt Nam.Hoàng said most of the global tech giants already had invested or soughtinvestment opportunities in Việt Nam.He said to welcome this new investment wave, the Vietnamese Government hadworked out a series of important requirements. In the middle of last month,Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc officially issued the new requirements forhigh-tech enterprises.Accordingly, high-tech enterprises with a total investment capital of VNĐ6trillion ($260 million) and a number of 3,000 employees or more must commit tospend at least 0.5 per cent of their capital for research and development(R&D). Enterprises with a total capital of VNĐ100 billion and 200 employees ormore must commit to at least one per cent of their total net revenue.An anonymous investor said under the new requirements, foreign investors wouldavoid the “heavy burden” of commitments for R&D activities. Under the newrequirements, spending for R&D will also include depreciation ofinfrastructure investment, fixed assets, vocational training, recurrentexpenditures and royalties.In the past, after the High-technology Law took effect on July 1, 2009,investors increasingly complained about the high requirements for investmentprojects to be recognised as “high-technology projects.” Commonly citedcomplaints include the limited number of products that were listed as high-technology products, that high-technology enterprises must commit at least oneper cent of their annual revenue towards (R&D), and that at least five percent of total workers must be involved in R&D activities.Hoàng said the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) was collectingcomments from ministries and agencies before submitting to the Government forapproval on special investment policies.Hoàng said under the new regulations, special incentives will be given toinnovation hub projects, including National Innovation Centre, R&D projects,and large-scale projects.“We have proposed four criteria to determine those eligible to enjoy specialincentives or not that include technology, technology transfer, participationof Vietnamese businesses in value chains and value added in Việt Nam,” saidHoàng.With special incentives, preparation of premises, energy, high-quality humanresources, and improvements in the business climate, Việt Nam would attractmore investment in high-tech projects in the future, said Hoàng. — VNS