On Sept 29th, 2016, Faculty of Investment in collaboration with the Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises organized a workshop on the theme of "The Relationship between Remittances and Investment Activities in Vietnam".
Attending this seminar, there were Prof. Dr Nguyen Mai - Former Vice Minister of Planning and Investment, Chairman of the Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Direct Investment, Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Direct Investment, Former Editor in Chief of the Journal of Investing, Mr. Pham Vu Hai - Director of the Northern Investment Promotion, Assoc Prof. Dr. Tran Kim Chung - Vice Dean of the Central Institute for Economic and Management, Mr. Hoang Anh Minh - Associate Editor in Cheif of the Journal of Investing. On the NEU side, there were Prof. Dr. Tran Tho Dat -President, Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Trung - Vice President, Assoc Prof. Dr. Pham Hong Chuong - Vice President, Assoc Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Van Hoa - Vice President, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Huong - Former Rector, Assoc Prof. Dr. Phan Cong Nghia - Former Vice Rector together with other lecturers, students of Faculty of Investment.
Together with Foreign Direct Investment and Official Development Association, remittances is also one of the financial resources contributing to Vietnam’s economy growth. Based on the 2002-2015 report of the General Statistics Office, in Vietnam, remittance flows accounted for 6.0% of GDP, while FDI flows and ODA flows were 7.7% and 3.0% of GDP respectively. Over the past 20 years, the number of remittances increased about 80 times from USD 0.14 billion in 1993 to USD 11 billion in 2013, and then reached to USD 12.25 billion in 2015. Vietnam reached the top 10 countries attracting the largest amount of remittances in the world and the second in Southeast Asia.
Speaking at the workshop, Assoc Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Van Hoa emphasized that the aim of this seminar was to clarify the relationship between remittance flow and investment activities, and find out the best solutions to how remittance flows can be directly or indirectly invested more effectively in Vietnam. This would contribute positively to the sustainable development of Vietnam's economy in the context of deeper and deeper international integration process. After that, Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Direct Investment affirmed that the relationship between remittance flow and investment activities was a topical topic in both theory and reality. How remittance flows can be used effectively to invest in Vietnam was a practical question. He believed that the participants would give their opinions for this topicality of this issue.
Three main topics presented in the workshop were the Role of Remittance in the Economy, the Relationship between Remittance and Investment Activities, and Solutions to How to Attract More Remittance to Invest in Business in Vietnam.
In session 2, experts discussed about solutions to how to increase remittance to investment activities in Vietnam. After discussion, they concluded the following contends:
- Trends and sustainability of remittances for the socio-economic development in general and for investment in business development in Vietnam in particular;
- The relationship between remittances and direct investment and indirect investment in Vietnam.
- The experience of developing countries in attracting and using remittances for economic development;
- The factors affecting the attraction and use of remittances for investment activities. The negative impact of remittances for investment activities and socio-economic development of Vietnam;
- Solutions to further remittance attraction for economic and social development in general investment activities in Vietnam in particular...
These conclusions will be an important reference for government and related agencies to make decisions in the process of policy making and administration.