South Korea tops Vietnam's FDI capital in Q1

South Korea ranked the first place in the list of 32 foreign direct investment (FDI) contributors of Vietnam in the first quarter (Q1) of 2014, said Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment. According to FIA statistics on Thursday, during the three-month period, South Korea's newly registered and added capital to Vietnam hit 765.6 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 22.9 percent of the national's total. Japan ranked the second with total capital of 414.3 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 12.4 percent of Vietnam's total FDI registration in January-March period, said FIA. "In Vietnam, famous South Korean brands such as Samsung, LG are planning further multi-billion U.S. dollar investment projects in many more areas," Park Chang Eun, deputy director of Korea Trade- Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), was quoted by Bao Cong Thuong (Industry and Trade News) on Thursday as saying. South Korea's Samsung has invested some 5.7 billion U.S. dollars in Vietnam, the amount of which is expected to go up sharply in the coming future as other Samsung's projects of central Vung Ang 3 Thermal Power Plant, southern Long Thanh airport, and a shipping building factory in central Khanh Hoa province among others are realized, said Park. Park added that many retail sales corporations are seeking business opportunities in Vietnam such as Shinsegae with its 65- million U.S. dollar supermarket project in southern Ho Chi Minh City, and Lotte with the current seven trade centers in Vietnam. If calculation of cumulative FDI capital is included across Vietnam up to now, Japan topped the country's foreign investors with 35.3 billion U.S. dollars while that of South Korea stood at 30.4 billion U.S. dollars, said the newspaper. "South Korean investors may reverse the situation with large projects," said Tran Dinh Thien, director of Vietnam Institute of Economics on Bao Cong Thuong on Thursday. Thien noted that in terms of investing "manner", South Korean businessmen are usually fast at grasping opportunities to make decisions. "This is quite different from the slow but steady trend with cautious thinking of Japanese investors," assessed Thien.