Vinh Phuc province must improve the quality of its educational and training system to attract more foreign investment, heard a conference on November 27.

According to EuroCham and AmCham, quality of human resources is the biggest challenge for the province and Vietnam in general to luring more foreign investment.

Marko Walde, chief representative of the Delegate of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam (AHK Vietnam), said German companies and European investors “need people with proper vocational training” in mechanics, electronics and other industrial production fields.

The lack of skilled workers is a challenge for European companies when coming to Vietnam, he said. Other challenges include business environment, infrastructure, traffic, power supply and the weakness of Vietnamese companies.

As German firms invest in long term of 25-30 years with top equipment and facilities, they need high-quality and skilled labour to operate factories and that is a big challenge in Vietnam, he added.

He suggested provincial authorities improve the business environment by strengthening local companies and developing vocational training centres.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam’s Vice Chairwoman Virginia Foote also stressed US companies want to have a more intense relationship with Vietnamese partners on the occasion of AmCham’s 25th anniversary in early November.

Noting Vietnam has been successfully developing its export-based economy in agriculture, clothing and footwear, she asked what would be the next step for the Southeast Asia economy in the age of Industry 4.0.

The importance of the labour force being as industrial and plentiful as it is to get the next generation ready to attract investment in engineering, science and technology, she said.

American companies and other foreign investors expect the Vietnamese education system to link with technology development, she added.

It is not easy for Vietnam to produce world-class vocational school and equipment, Foote said, adding “vocational schools can link up with foreign companies” to determine what kinds of training and research are needed to help the economy grow.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Tri on the same day signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Delegate of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam (AHK Vietnam), the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham) and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) to attract investors from Germany, Europe and the US.

According to Tri, there are 752 domestic investment projects in the province with total invested capital of 78 trillion VND (3.3 billion USD) and 376 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with total capital of more than 5 billion USD.

Only 3 percent of all FDI projects in the province belong to European and US investors with capital of 170 million USD.

Some successful investors in the province include vehicle manufacturers Toyota, Honda and Piaggio, animal feed producer De Heus and Vietnamese firm Vingroup.