The Mekong Delta region should improve its infrastructure and investment environment as well as enhancing labour productivity to attract foreign investors.—File Photo

CAN THO (Biz Hub)— The Mekong Delta region should improve its infrastructure and investment environment as well as enhancing labour productivity to attract foreign investors, experts said at a conference in Can Tho City on Monday.

Director of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Can Tho City branch Vo Hung Duong recommended the region detail industries and sectors it wanted to lure foreign investment. These commitments on FDI attraction also needed to make public.

"Efforts to attract FDI are not only to exploit existing agricultural advantages but also to target the mobilisation of scientific and technological resources, as well as improvement of investment promotion in a move to generate more jobs," Dung said.

At the conference, experts noted the main hindrances to foreign investment in the Mekong Delta region were poor infrastructure and low labour productivity. Though the labour force is abundant, the region is still short of skilled workers.

Currently, investment in the region's infrastructure remains restricted mainly to serving the agricultural industry. Transport between Can Tho City and other neighbouring provinces and cities, as well as other large economic hubs in the country is also restricted.

The region's distance from Ha Noi, HCM City and ports is another reason for the region's unflattering FDI record.

Despite being a large economic region with high yearly growth of over 10 per cent, the Mekong Delta still struggles to lure foreign investors.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency, the Mekong Delta region, which includes 13 cities and provinces, had attracted only 575 FDI projects worth US$10.73 billion by the end of 2012, accounting for only 5.16 per cent of the country's total FDI value. — VNS