Some notable ventures include manufacturing of LED products, peripheral equipment, and accessories, photo Le Toan

In late October, Quang Ninh People’s Committee granted approval to two giant foreign-invested ventures – a $1.5 billion solar cell complex by Jinko Solar Vietnam, and the Lite-on Quang Ninh factory, worth $690 million.

The two projects contributed to helping the northeastern province of Quang Ninh surpass Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to become the top locality in the country in terms of attracting foreign-invested capital in the first 10 months of the year.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, between January and October, the province acquired a total capital of $3.09 billion, accounting for 12 per cent of the country’s total, and an on-year increase of 41.3 per cent.

The events are somewhat of a surprise for the province because in the first half of the year, the province was even not named among the top 10 localities in garnering foreign direct investment.

Meanwhile, the nearby port city of Haiphong ranked second, with a total registered funding of over $2.8 billion, or 10.9 per cent of Vietnam’s total. In addition, in the first 10 months of the year, Nghe An and Thai Binh provinces were named at the top of localities attracting over $1 billion.

This year marks the first time Nghe An has wooed over $1 billion in a year. In the first 10 months, the province acquired $1.92 billion in foreign-invested capital, doubling the figure of 2022 and tripling the target the province set for all of 2023. It stands in ninth place among cities and provinces nationwide and leads the 14 cities and provinces in the north-central and central regions.

In early October, Thai Binh province approved three projects in Lien Ha Thai Industrial Park (IP) at a value of around $300 million. They include Pegavision Corporation’s goal to produce contact lenses worth $200 million, and a $45 million project from peripheral equipment design and manufacturing company Goodway Cayman.

The third initiative is Longstar Lighting Thai Binh factory, which focuses on manufacturing and processing LED lights and accessories. It is funded by Xiamen Longstar Lighting Co., Ltd. with $25 million.

“Having three new investors in Lien Ha Thai IP will help the province draw in overseas funding of over $1 billion for the first time,” said Nguyen Khac Than, Deputy Secretary of Thai Binh Party Committee. “With a modern IP, connected traffic infrastructure, and attractive incentives, secondary projects will also be successful and develop sustainably.”

Elsewhere, Quang Ninh’s successes involved proactively meeting and working with more than 100 investors, including large-scale groups such as BP, Jinko Solar, TCL, and Japanese giants Mitsubishi, Yaskawa Electric, Tamagawa Seiki, and Sojitz.

After those meetings, the province continued to discuss with investors to share information and support them during the process of studying the business environment. In addition, the province also organises many investment promotion programmes with large groups, such as Samsung, VSIP, and Unilever.

Nguyen Manh Linh, deputy director of Dai Phong JSC, the developer of My Thuan IP in the northern province of Nam Dinh, told VIR, “The reasons for the breakthrough in attracting foreign-invested capital of emerging localities comes from the advantage in available land in IPs. In addition, localities are also proactive in completing transport infrastructure to create regional links, which investors pay attention to.”