Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui

Vietnamese investors are continuing their drive to do business in Myanmar with local partners in a wide range of enterprises.

Dr Nguyen Van Nam, an overseas Vietnamese living in Germany, says that he intended to join forces with some friends and set up an information technology company in HCM City a few months ago.

Of 43 foreign investors in Vietnam, US climbed from the third position in 2008 to become the biggest investor of Vietnam with the registered investment capital of $9.8 billion last year.

Vietnam's restrictions on the news media and Internet sites such as Facebook threaten the country's rapid economic progress, Western donors told an annual meeting of World Bank and other officials on Thursday.

Vietnam is carrying out the industrialisation and modernisation process with a goal to become a modern industrial country in 2020 by developing support industries.

Till October 20, the country has had total 10,805 operational projects with a total registered capital of $174.7 billion, in which the chartered capital of investors accounted for $56.5 billion, reported Ministry of Planning and Invetsment's Foreign Investment Department.

Last year Ninh Thuan province attracted the most foreign capital in the country by licensing Ca Na big steel project of $9.8 billion. But, since the groundbreaking date on November 23, 2008, the project has still not showed any progress while the people living near the project's ground have to face many difficulties.

Vietnam seems to offer more incentives to foreign investors than to domestic investors while foreign direct investment is not as effective as capital from domestic investors, said economic professor James Riedel, Johns Hopkins University (US).

SINGAPORE - There are signs that Vietnam could be on its way back to become the darling of investors in Asia.

Despite the current global economic crisis, Vietnam has still remained as an attractive destination for investment in the sector of food and beverage market, according to a market report conducted by "Research and Markets" website, an organisation that specifies in providing information and market research.

Vietnam's widening budget deficit may lower investor confidence, according to agencies and countries that provide the country with grants and low-interest loans.

The global recession has taken a toll on foreign investment and tourism to Vietnam in the first four months of the year, the government said Tuesday.

HANOI — Vietnam will allow foreign investors to increase their stakes in non-listed companies and plans to set up a new trading floor for unlisted shareholding firms, officials said Friday.

Vietnam will allow foreign investors to set up wholly owned retail companies in the country from January 1, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said Friday in a statement.

JFE Steel Corp, the third largest steel company from Japan on November 11 announced to suspend or cancel its US$5 billion steel project in Quang Ngai province's Dung Quat Economic Zone. Clearly, JFE Steel Corp seems to be very cautious and prudential in investing in Vietnam's steel manufacturing sector.