What do businesses expect in the Special Economic Zone?

However, many opinions suggest that these three special zones are established more slowly than other countries in the region. Therefore, the mechanism and policies for the investing enterprises here must really be superior, making a profit for businesses soon.

The leading economy

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, at present, our economy is low competitiveness, exploitation of the static potentials, the natural advantages, and resources of the country have been gradually critical Vietnam’s investment environment is also increasingly challenged by the strong international competition. Meanwhile, the potential development in the three areas where are strategically located have the favorable natural conditions, mild climate and the potential development of sectors, including tourism, logistics services, trade, real estate, health care, high-quality education, science, technology, new technology, the creative start-up development. Therefore, the development of the model of the special administrative-economic units in our country with the breakthrough mechanisms and policies on economy and administration, promoting international cooperation and competition, creating the dynamic models of new development motivation, improving business investment environment, enhancing competitiveness to attract investment, especially foreign investment and creating the positive spillovers into the regions and the country are very necessary and urgent. One of the goals of building the three special economic zones builds a new development model with breakthrough mechanisms and policies to improve the investment environment and improve the competitiveness of the sector, especially the foreign investment and new impetus to accelerate the process of the economic development.

Sharing the interest of businesses to the formation of these three special economic zones, Ngo Van Diem, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Private Entrepreneurs, said that the businesses in the association, as well as himself, are also interested in establishing these special zones as well as the incentives for the special economic zones because the special economic zones are especially different from the existing economic zones. Accordingly, the administrative procedures, the regulations, and incentives must have breakthroughs in comparison with current regulations in the inland areas outside the special zone, beside the market mechanism or it is precisely that here will have a standard market economy. The establishment of the special zone builds the leading economy zones, motivating investment and promoting economic development, such as the special economic zones of Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shanghai in China. He also emphasized that besides the preferential policies on taxes, fees, land ... one of the most important issues of the special economic zones that businesses are interested in is the public administration apparatus. This apparatus must have sufficient power to operate, even their power which is allowed to be different from the current legal regulations or unregulated provisions.

Relating to the preferential policies for the special economic zones; the proposal of the Ministry of Planning and Investment for these three special economic zones, the conditional business lines have been narrowed down from 243 to 63 businesses that truly meet the requirements of national defense, national security, social order and safety, social morality and the health of the community. The domestic economic organizations and foreign-invested economic organizations are allowed to mortgage assets attaching the land at the foreign credit institutions to create greater flexibility in mobilizing capital from land and expanding the channel of capital mobilization from abroad; expanding duration of the land use , no more than 99 years higher than the current 70-year rule of the Land Law and similar to Thailand ... for investment projects in the scientific and technical branches, new technologies, creative startup areas and investment projects for research and development centers in the special economy and administrative units.

Need for the strong message about the interests of enterprises in the special zones

It is supposed that setting up the special economic zone is necessity, however, Nguyen Van Toan, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Investors, is concerned that Vietnam's special zones were established too late compared to the models of the special economic zones of the other countries in the region that have been established for a long time. Not to mention, now foreign investment enterprises have been receiving a lot of incentives when investing in Vietnam, not only in the economic zones but also in different localities and localities where the proposals are generally accepted and facilitated to implement the project. Therefore, it is necessary for the newly established special economic zones to have to build the good infrastructure and the incentives that must be really better than the current economic zones, which there be enough attractive for investors, especially the foreign investors. Mr. Nguyen Van Toan emphasized that the Government and localities need to give strong messages about what the enterprises can benefit from entering the special zones. Currently, Vietnam has been facilitating the FDI enterprises, so if there are no different preferences and the enterprises do not see the opportunity to profit clearly, it will be not easy to attract FDI enterprises into the special economic zone.

Relating to the information that the Van Phong Special Economic Zone will attract businesses in the logistics industry, Nguyen Duy Minh, CEO of Interlog, a company operating in this industry, said that there are very few logistics enterprises operating in Van Phong area. Mr. Minh also said that the logistics are the service industry, the specialty of the logistics sector is only when there is a cargo owner who has the demand to buy and to be accepted to cargo by the shipping carriers, the logistics will find themselves. But there are not many owners in Van Phong area and there have not been many buyers, so the logistic services have not developed. Therefore, when investing, the businesses as well as the gold goes, they also have to consider the real problem whether there are investors to invest in the EEZ or not. According to Minh, Van Phong Northern area has the advantage of the deep water ports, however, despite the fact that the reality of Cai Mep Port (Ho Chi Minh City) was invested much, the operation is very difficult, while There is nothing in Van Phong exception of the deep water, it is necessary to invest in building ports and then also consider whether the shipping firms come or not ... Mr. Minh said that many issues need considering. The Thaco Truong Hai auto factory in Chu Lai economic zone is the evidence, Minh supposed that there must be large enterprises like Truong Hai auto factory’s investment in special economic zones, it is able to attract other businesses.

In addition to areas such as the creative industries, information and communication technology, ecological agriculture, deep seaports; port logistics services, high-class trade-service centers ... one of the areas where all three the special economic zones are also aimed at attracting investment for the resort tourism which combines business of entertainment and casino. In this regard, Mr. Nguyen The Diep, Member of Executive Committee of Vietnam Tourism Association said that although Vietnam has much strength in the future as the three special economic zones where there are many landscapes, such as Scenery, cheap labor, the background of good information technology because Vietnam is one of the breakthroughs in this field. Relating to the advantage of enterprises when investing in the special zones, thus, Diep also said that the foreign investors or domestic investors all have their own advantages, however, according to Diep, the domestic investment has more advantageous. The domestic enterprises should make early investments in the special economic zones, they become catalysts, a prime source of capital to call on foreign investors.