Last year saw local businesses pour a figure of US$21 billion into more than 1,300 projects in foreign countries, with profits transferred home reaching roughly US$3 billion, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Viettel International Investment Joint Stock Company - Viettel Global is one of
the local firms running investment abroad (Photo:anninhthudo.vn) 

Included in the figure are a number of major schemes, such as an oil and gas project run by PetroVietnam in Russia at over US$170 million, Viettel's telecom network project in Cambodia at US$22.1 million, and Petrolimex's programme in Singapore at nearly US$10 million.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment stated that the retained earnings for reinvestment stood at roughly US$363 million. Most notably, last year saw retained profits for reinvestment reach over US$23.1 million, with businesses contributing roughly US$22 million as state financial obligations from overseas investments.

Along with the repatriated capital, local businesses have also been active in creating significant assets such as factories and manufacturing facilities worth several billions of dollars abroad.

Laos is the recipient of the most investment capital from Vietnamese enterprises at nearly US$5 billion in registered capital from 208 projects, followed by Russia at approximately US$2.8 billion, Cambodia at around US$2.7 billion, and Venezuela at about US$1.8 billion.