The sum will be accounted to the project's total overseas investment. — Photo cafef.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Vietnamese investors can transfer 5 per cent of their overseas projects' values in foreign currency and not more than US$300,000 towards project-related activities before getting investment licences from foreign authorities.

This was regulated in the Decree 83/2015/ND-CP on overseas investments issued recently to replace the Decree 76 dated 2006. Previously, investors could transfer capitals for their overseas investment only when getting investment licences and approvals of the authorities of investment-receiving countries.

The sum will be accounted to the project's total overseas investment.

According to the decree, investors were able to transfer abroad foreign currencies and machinery to meet expenses for their investment projects such as market and field surveys, international bidding, deposit or other financial guarantees, as well as asset purchase or hiring. The process must be in accordance with regulations governing foreign currency, export, customs and technology.

Projects abroad using State capital must abide by the Law on Investment of State Capital in Enterprises.

The decree also requires documents validating the site of projects for overseas investment in the fields of energy, agro-forestry-fisheries farming, exploitation and processing, and mineral survey, exploration, exploitation and processing, in addition to manufacturing, processing and engineering; and real estate and infrastructure.

Documents validating the site of projects can be one of the following: investment licences granted by host countries which specify the location and acreage of land of the projects; land lease or land use certificates; and land lease contracts or business contracts specifying the location and the acreage of the land; or agreements on land transfer and lease, in addition to business co-operative agreements with authorised parties in host countries.

In addition, the decree said that investors must register investments through the National Database for overseas investment, which would help simplify procedures.

Vu Van Chung, deputy director of the Foreign Investment Agency, was quoted by Dau Tu (Investment) online newspaper as saying that the new decree with simplified procedures, greater flexibility and advantages was expected to encourage Vietnamese to invest abroad.

As of the end of April this year, Viet Nam had registered nearly $15 billion into 930 projects abroad, reported the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Major sectors for overseas investments in Viet Nam were in agriculture, telecommunications and oil exploration.

The largest markets are neighbours Laos and Cambodia, accounting for respective shares of 27 per cent and 20 per cent of the total investment made abroad.

The latest update on the agency's website showed that in the first half of this year, the ministry granted licences for 47 projects overseas, worth totally $155.4 million. — VNS