Vietnam targets foreign investment of $90b in five years

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HANOI, Jan 3 (Xinhua): Vietnam has planned to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) of 90 billion US dollars in the 2006-2010 period, local media reported today.
Vietnam will lure bigger amounts of FDI from Japan, the United States and the European Union in the next three years, Vietnam Economic Times newspaper quoted the prediction of the ministry of planning and investment as reporting.
From now to 2020, Vietnam will prioritise attracting FDI in high technology, information technology, manufacturing engineering, new material and energy, accessory industry, tourism, sea and air transport, healthcare, culture, education and infrastructure, New Hanoi newspaper quoted Phan Huu Thang, head of the ministry's foreign investment agency, as saying.
Vietnam lured FDI of over 30 billion dollars between 2006 and 2007. By the end of last year, the country had 8,580 operational foreign-invested projects with total registered capital of 83.1 billion dollars.
Now, 80 countries and regions have FDI projects in Vietnam, and South Korea is the biggest investor with 1,837 projects totaling 13.5 billion dollars, according to statistics from the ministry.
Meanwhile, Vietnam is predicted to earn 10.4 billion US dollars from exporting goods to the European Union ( EU) in 2008, up 23.5 per cent against last year, according to local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times today.
To this end, Vietnam will boost export of garments, textiles, footwear, farm produces, handicraft items, woodwork, mechanical products, electronics components and plasticware, the newspaper quoted the country's ministry of industry and trade as reporting.
Besides such traditional markets as Japan, the United States, Cambodia and China's Taiwan, Vietnam will this year foster export of plastic products to new EU members, including Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Estonia.
Vietnam is expected to reap nearly 1.7 billion dollars from shipping garments and textiles to the EU this year, up 13.8 per cent over last year; 2.7 billion dollars from footwear, up 26 per cent; nearly 1.2 billion dollars from seafood, up 25 per cent; and 780 million dollars from woodwork, up 30 per cent.
In 2008, Vietnam's coffee export to the EU is estimated to slightly drop to 820 million dollars due to potential lower coffee output. The EU currently consumes half of Vietnamese coffee for export.
The country has eyed total export revenues of 57.6-58.6 billion dollars in 2008, up from nearly 48.4 billion dollars in 2007, and 39.6 billion dollars in 2006, according to the ministry.