Open-minded

The Hai Phong City Party Committee Standing Committee's meeting and dialogue with FDI enterprises in 2024 was attended by nearly 600 enterprises along with leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, leaders of the city's departments, boards and branches, representatives of domestic and international organizations, representatives of universities, colleges and vocational schools.

Hai Phong City Party Committee Standing Committee Meeting and Dialogue with FDI Enterprises in 2024

The conference aims to resolve difficulties and obstacles in investment, production and business of FDI enterprises operating in the city. At the same time, it connects investment and business cooperation between FDI enterprises and supporting industry enterprises in the city, FDI enterprises with universities and vocational training institutions in the city in training and supplying labor.

Hai Phong City Party Committee Secretary Le Tien Chau said that the results obtained at the conference will be practical solutions, in line with the aspirations of enterprises to continue improving the investment and business environment to promote foreign investment attraction. The conference also approved the orientation to attract and call for foreign investment cooperation and information on the vision, planning, and development orientation of the city in the coming time, from which investors and businesses have a comprehensive and accurate view of the city to have more certain and suitable investment and business plans in the future.

Currently, in Hai Phong City, there are 985 valid foreign investment projects with a total registered investment capital of 31 billion USD, of which, investment projects mainly focus on the industrial production sector with a ratio of over 83% of investment capital, investment projects in the real estate and infrastructure business sector account for 14% of investment capital. The rest are investment projects in the fields of trade, services, transportation, and mining.

Since the opening up to attract foreign investment capital, FDI enterprises have always been a positive contributor to the economic development as well as social activities of the city through their important contribution to increasing development investment capital, contributing to the city budget, promoting export and import, creating jobs for workers with good remuneration associated with training, improving labor productivity and technical level. In addition, with the strength of science and technology, the FDI enterprise sector is also considered a driving force for the development of industrial production and promoting the development of science and technology in the city.

 The conference added solid steps to the investment cooperation relationship between FDI enterprises and Hai Phong City. With Hai Phong's openness, sincerity, listening skills and drastic actions, along with the dynamism, creativity, solidarity and spreading the strength of the FDI business community, in the future, the FDI business sector of Hai Phong City will continue to develop more sustainably, deserving to become the driving force in the socio-economic development of Hai Phong - Secretary of the City Party Committee Le Tien Chau emphasized.

Many opinions were raised

At the conference, there were 9 groups of issues, including groups of fields on: land, construction; transport infrastructure; tax and customs; labor; energy; investment and business investment connection; technology transfer, innovation... with 56 opinions raised and resolved by businesses.

Regarding the establishment of the Southern Economic Zone, Mr. Le Trung Kien - Head of the Hai Phong Economic Zone Management Board said that the Board will report to the city so that the city can propose to the Central Government to issue specific policies and mechanisms for the Southern Economic Zone to create maximum favorable conditions for investors in the new Economic Zone.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh - Director of Zim - Lotuslink Joint Venture Company Limited asked about the development roadmap of the city's seaport and logistics system.

Regarding the field of education and cooperation in training high-quality human resources, Mr. Ricky Tan - Chairman of KinderWorld Education Group said, we are very happy and excited that just one year since the first working session with the Secretary of the Hai Phong City Party Committee, Phase 1 of Singapore International School has been completed and put into operation according to the committed schedule.

In order to meet the rapid development needs of Hai Phong and the learning needs of Hai Phong's children, attracting high-quality human resources both domestically and internationally to live and work in Hai Phong, KinderWorld hopes to continue to be introduced by Hai Phong City to a suitable location to implement the Singapore International Education Complex project. The proposed location is at the new administrative - political center of Hai Phong City. Proposing to coordinate with the Department of Education and Training of Hai Phong to organize seminars to improve pedagogical expertise for teachers. In addition, it is proposed to deploy a life skills model on Cat Ba Island.

Responding to this issue, Mr. Bui Van Kiem - Director of the Department of Education and Training of Hai Phong said that the city is ready to coordinate and cooperate with businesses in educational cooperation, improve the qualifications of the teaching staff, and deploy advanced training programs in the city.

Mr. Chen Chi Liang - General Director of Pegatron Vietnam Co., Ltd. spoke at the Conference on innovation and technology transfer.

Regarding the field of technology transfer and innovation, Mr. Chen Chi Liang - General Director of Pegatron Vietnam Co., Ltd. asked, what are the orientations and solutions Hai Phong has implemented to improve the quality of human resources for the electronics and semiconductor industry. From there, turn Hai Phong into one of the country's leading centers for training high-quality human resources in the electronics, semiconductor, and information technology industries, as well as increase the attractiveness of Vietnam in the race to attract investment in the semiconductor industry?

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hoai Nam - Principal of Hai Phong University said that in the period of 2024 - 2027, the Hai Phong Economic Zone Management Board will coordinate with the Department of Science and Technology, Hai Phong University and Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Park to train 1,000 - 1,200 engineers and experts specializing in electronics and semiconductors and train 3,000 - 5,000 workers with basic skills in microchips to provide human resources for designing microchips and semiconductors for businesses in Hai Phong and neighboring areas.

Regarding the investment field, Mr. Xu Cheng Uay - Deputy General Director of Aroma Bay Candles Company Limited made a recommendation: We know that Hai Phong City pays great attention to investment - business connection activities between FDI enterprises and domestic enterprises to create opportunities for businesses to participate in the global supply chain.

"As a foreign enterprise that has invested in Hai Phong for more than 16 years, we want to find opportunities to connect investment and business with Vietnamese enterprises in the fields of raw materials and some other fields to reduce the burden of input costs. Therefore, I hope to participate in many investment connection conferences or other similar programs to meet and exchange with partners or cities that support enterprises to connect with Vietnamese enterprises in the same field to be able to share experiences and cooperate in investment", Mr. Xu Cheng Uay shared.

Logistics costs affect enterprises

Regarding the field of logistics and post-port logistics, Mr. Duong Truong Vinh - Head of Import-Export Department of Navigatec New Materials Vietnam Co., Ltd. said that the practical issue affecting the costs of enterprises is logistics costs.

Mr. Vinh stated that there is a difference in the cost of lifting and lowering empty containers between container ports and yards (ICDs), when the cost of lifting/lowering empty containers at yards (ICDs) is not only not lower but also higher than the cost of lifting/lowering goods at ports, this is not really reasonable.

Second, when receiving orders from shipping lines, businesses have to pay fees such as document fees, THC, CIC, cleaning fees, container maintenance fees, but when returning empty containers to yards, in some cases businesses still have to pay additional regular cleaning fees (called industrial cleaning by yards) or repair fees such as floor scratches, or bulging and flattening of containers, flat beams, etc.

City leaders visit business booths before the conference

These are some issues related to business logistics costs, but they are also common problems that many other businesses are facing.

Therefore, the company hopes that businesses in the logistics transportation business in general, such as shipping lines, ports, or yards, will find ways to reduce related costs to a more reasonable level to minimize business logistics costs and further enhance the competitiveness of Vietnamese businesses, including businesses in Hai Phong City - Mr. Vinh said.

Quickly support businesses affected by storm No. 3

SITC Logistics Vietnam Co., Ltd. said that after the impact of storm No. 3 Yagi, many manufacturing businesses were affected and suffered heavy losses.

It is predicted that it will also negatively affect businesses providing transportation services such as SITC Logistics Vietnam Co., Ltd. (orders will decrease, causing damage to the company's expected revenue). Therefore, businesses hope that in the coming time, competent state agencies will support businesses that have suffered damage after the storm by exempting and reducing related taxes and fees (such as seaport fees, storage fees, etc.)

Responding to this issue, the Hai Phong City Tax Department said that immediately after the storm, as the agency managing budget collection in Hai Phong City, the Tax Department proactively drafted documents on tax policies related to cases where taxpayers suffered material damage due to natural disasters and sent them to all organizations and individuals who pay taxes in the city.

According to the provisions of tax law, in addition to general tax incentives and support policies, taxpayers who have suffered material damage due to natural disasters will be entitled to policies on extending the deadline for submitting tax declarations and tax payments; exemption from late payment fees; exemption from administrative fines for tax violations; exemption and reduction of special consumption tax, personal income tax, resource tax and non-agricultural land use tax corresponding to the level of damage...

The Hai Phong City Tax Department will support and promptly resolve applications for extension and exemption of organizations and individuals affected by storm No. 3, ensuring legitimate rights for taxpayers. At the same time, it is ready to coordinate with other agencies and units if requested to assist in determining the value of damage to organizations, individuals and enterprises according to regulations.

For comments that have not been directly answered at the conference, the Hai Phong City People's Committee will synthesize and send written responses to enterprises - Chairman of the Hai Phong City People's Committee Nguyen Van Tung said.