Incentives are to be doled out in the priority areas of afforestation, wood processing, animal husbandry and the building of processing zones for export products such as rice, fruits and vegetables, coffee, rubber and tea, said Le Van Minh, Director of the International Cooperation Department under the MARD. He said the country is working on improving its investment regulations concerning foreign currency balance, the use of land use right as mortgage, and land clearance process, with the aim of reducing risks for FDI projects.
By the end of 2006, Vietnam had 718 valid FDI projects in agro-forestry with a total registered capital of 3.63 billion USD. The figure accounts for 10.6 percent and 6.5 percent of the country's total FDI in terms of project number and value, respectively.
FDI projects have been integral in promoting economic restructuring in agriculture, contributed to a diversified product range and the improved quality of exported farm produce as a whole. The projects have also generated jobs for almost 75,000 labourers and through this alleviated poverty in the regions that the businesses are based.
However the majority of overseas funded initiatives are small in scale and are based in the southern and northern key economic regions of the country while benefiting very few provinces in the mountainous and Central Highlands regions, said Minh.