The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) on Thursday held a ceremony to officially kick off a project for the development of a national investment information system for the private sector.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang said the project was expected to contribute significantly to developing e-Government, enhancing administrative reforms and making investment procedures transparent to create favourable conditions for investors.

With KOICA’s support, the project would develop an information system which included database about foreign investment, overseas investment and a database related to private investment and public investment, Thang said.

The system would be connected to other national information systems such as land, tax and environment management agencies to improve the efficiency of information exploitation and analysis.

Vu Van Chung, deputy director of the ministry’s Foreign Investment Agency, said that once the system was established, firms could conduct their investment reports online which would help reduce costs. In addition, the issuance of licenses for foreign investment as well as overseas investments would also be conducted online.

Worth US$6.2 million, $5.5 million of which was granted by the South Korean Government in non-refundable aid, the project is expected to be completed in 2021.

KOICA Viet Nam office’s director Kim Jin-oh highly appreciated the importance of the project, stressing it was one among the prioritised sectors in the South Korean Government’s New Southern Policy.

The project received approval from the Vietnamese Government in September 2017. The MPI and KOICA signed a record of discussions for the project in May 2018.

South Korea is the largest investor in Viet Nam with total investment of nearly $64 billion. The two countries target to increase bilateral trade to $100 billion in 2020, from $65.7 billion in 2018. — VNS