Vietnamese government agency ranks Taiwanese as No. 1 foreign investors

This article was written by Bowun Jhu and published by the Taiwan Journal on January 13, 2006. It reports that by the end of 2005, Taiwan's cumulative investments in Vietnam reached US$7.93 billion. Taiwan is the largest foreign investor in Vietnam, followed by Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.

According to statistics recently released by the Vietnamese Department of Planning and Investment, by the end of 2005 there were 1,408 Taiwanese investment projects on record, amounting to about 24 percent of the country's approximately 6,000 foreign investment projects. Year 2005 also saw an infusion of US$674 million in new investments by Taiwanese companies, representing a 43.7-percent jump from 2004.

The Taiwan-Vietnam Trade Agreement, which took effect at the end of 2005, has helped improving trade relations between the two countries. It is hoped that Vietnam can become a channel that will enable Taiwan to integrate with the emerging Association of Southeast Asian Nations Free Trade Area in the near future.