With in-depth analysis on the impact of the new context on global FDI and the responses of FDI enterprises in Vietnam, the International Conference Global FDI and responses of FDI enterprises in Vietnam in the new context organized by the VNU University of Economics and Business, Hai Phong University, Thuongmai University and Haiphong Economic Zone Authority held on October 8, 2021, attracted interest from a large number of experts, businesses and society. 

The conference was sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Vietnam with the participation of more than 300 policy makers, experts, international scholars, researchers and students.

 

Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Truc Le - Rector of VNU University of Economics and Business

According to Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Truc Le, FDI enterprises in Vietnam were directly affected by the changes in the new context as well as aware of both opportunities and challenges from it. It was vital to study and assess the impacts of the new context to FDI inflows and policy adjustments of FDI enterprises, which provided policy implications for Vietnam in the future. The conference provided a forum for policy makers, businesses, domestic and international scholars exchange and share experiences on issues related to the change of FDI inflows on a global scale, responses of FDI enterprises and key implications policy for Vietnam.

 

According to Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Hoai Nam - Rector of Hai Phong University, FDI is a factor to improve the competitiveness of domestic and foreign enterprises

The world has been going through great changes that have far-reaching impacts on all aspects of economic and social life. The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted production, trade and investment, disrupted global supply chains, and plunged the world economy into the worst severe recession since World War II. In addition, the extent and manner in which economies interact with each other is influenced by a range of other factors such as strategic competition among major powers to maintain and strengthen their global position. The digital transformation process is promoted in the context of the pandemic and the Industrial Revolution 4.0, the trend of greening the economy to respond to climate change and towards sustainable development, the US-China trade war and the US-China trade war… These fluctuations have strong, multi-dimensional impacts on economic growth, trade and especially global FDI flows. In addition, there was a wave of investment shifting in FDI flows to cope with the disruption of the supply chain of essential and important commodities for developed countries' markets.

 

Assoc.Prof. Ha Van Hoi - Dean of the Faculty of International Business and Economics, UEB with an analysis of the global FDI picture in 2020

At the conference, research results showed that the global economy in 2020 declined on a large scale and most of the economies had negative growth, except for China, Egypt and Vietnam. The global economic growth in 2020 OECD is at -4.2%.

In this context, the global FDI fell sharply; the decline of FDI in developing countries was about 12% to 616 billion USD. According to the United Nations Trade and Development Forum (UNCTAD), FDI will continue to decline in 2021, threatening the economic recovery momentum after the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline was concentrated in developed countries, with FDI falling by 69% to about 229 billion USD, the lowest level in the past 25 years.

 

Vietnam's economy also follows the general trend of the world economy, has been heavily affected, but also promises many opportunities for the country. Opportunities come from a combination of many factors such as the implementation of dual goals of disease prevention and economic development, taking advantage of free trade agreements (FTAs), especially generation FTAs. In addition, selective policy adjustments are also an important factor in gradually improving the quality of FDI inflows.

 

Over the past 30 years, foreign direct investment (FDI) has made an important contribution to Vietnam's economic growth, promoting investment and development capital, increasing budget revenue, and boosting exports.

In 2020, for the first time, Vietnam entered the top 20 countries attracting the most foreign direct investment in the world. Vietnam has signed many new-generation free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), helping to further promote foreign organizations' opportunities to enter the Vietnamese market. The Government has implemented many solutions to improve business environment, infrastructure, human resources... to attract FDI capital.

 

According to the results of the study of the group of authors, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thuy Ha, MSc. Doan Thi Oanh, there is a proportional relationship between GDP and FDI. Specifically, when FDI increased by 1%, GDP increased by 1.1149980%, the change in FDI explained 69% of the change in GDP.

 

  

Within the framework of the Conference, the Organizing Committee published the Proceedings, which gathered 88 quality papers from managers, businesses, researchers and lecturers across the country. Accordingly, the proceeding focus on three main topics: (1) The new context and impacts on global and regional FDI flows; (2) New context and impacts on FDI flows into Vietnam; (3) Impact of the new context on FDI flows and responses of FDI enterprises in Vietnam.