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Amended law aims at more transparent investment climate
Creating a more transparent investment climate, amending and adding new administrative procedures and addressing difficulties in gauging investment performance are the key targets of the amended Investment Law. This was discussed at a workshop held to gather opinions from industry insiders in Ha Noi yesterday. Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong said the amended Investment Law needed to clarify four issues: defining foreign investors, procedures to set up a business with foreign investors, procedures for capital contributions to buy shares and essential issues to implement a one-door policy. A representative of the Viet Nam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) noted that the amended investment law is adaptable to localities and provinces as these areas are thirsty for foreign investments. The difficulty was that foreign investors were still skeptical about the implementation of administrative procedures for business registrations or investment certificates, he said. Nguyen Thanh Tra, a representative of a law firm, remarked that foreign investors were now unwilling to buy stock from local companies. The existing law did not stipulate whether investors who buy shares that constitute less than a 49 per cent stake in a local company should obtain an investment certificate. He added that the amended law needed to clarify this issue. To ensure consistency and transparency, the draft regulations should not discriminate between domestic and foreign investors. If the law is changed, incentives for investors should remain unchanged. In addition, the open-door policy was also enacted to address procedures on investments, land and construction through the agency of investment certification. The amended law will be submitted to the National Assembly for approval this year. The current Investment Law consist of 10 chapters and 77 sections enacted in 2005. After more than eight years of implementation, the current Investment Law has proved to have a number of limitations and shortcomings. In particular, the sections on investment industries and investment areas are haphazard and ineffective. The provisions on investment conditions and procedures are still unclear and unfeasible. This does not create an equal legal framework for both domestic and foreign investors.
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