Hanoi (VNA) – Southern localities ofVietnam has been a major destination for investment from the Republic of Korea(RoK) in recent years, and local textile-garment and footwear industries haveproved to be a magnet for an influx of capital from this country.

In late February, the Changshin Vietnam Co. Ltdbegan the construction of a footwear factory worth 100 million USD in Tan PhuIndustrial Park, the southern province of Dong Nai. Covering 14.3ha of land,this plant will manufacture over 27 million pairs of shoes each year whenoperational in 2020.

This is the biggest foreign direct investment(FDI) project in Dong Nai since the beginning of 2019.

The RoK-invested company has already had twoproduction facilities in the province’s Thanh Phu Industrial Park, including ashoe sole painting workshop invested with 4 million USD.

In the nearby province of Binh Duong, the localadministration recently licensed the Kyungbang Vietnam Co. Ltd to raise itsinvestment capital by 40 million USD to boost the production capacity to 9,000tonnes of cotton fibres and 11,000 tonnes of blended fibres per year.

With such additional capital, the firm’s projectnow has total capital of more than 219 million USD.

Statistics from localities in the southern keyeconomic region show that the RoK has continually been among the top sources ofFDI capital here.

In 2018, the RoK took the lead among countriesand territories investing in Dong Nai with about 40 projects worth over 234.2million USD. Meanwhile, it ranked second among foreign investors in Binh Duongwith total registered capital of over 302 million USD.

Korean companies mainly invested in industrialproduction like footwear, fibre, textile, electronics, and machinerymanufacturing. They are planning to develop many projects in supportingindustries in the coming time to supply materials for these production sectors.

At a recent meeting with Dong Nai’s authorities,Vice Consul General of the RoK to Ho Chi Minh City Chung Minchul said a largenumber of Korean firms are operating profitably in the province, so they wantto expand their investments.

Director of the Binh Duong provincial Departmentof Planning and Investment Nguyen Thanh Truc noted as of the end of 2018,Korean businesses had poured more than 2.7 billion USD into some 600 projectsin Binh Duong, including Kolon Industries (220 million USD), Kyungbang VietnamCo. Ltd (over 219 million USD), and Kumho Tire Vietnam Co. Ltd (128 millionUSD).

Most RoK investors in Binh Duong have enjoyed effectiveproduction and business performance. Most recently, 27 Korean companiesoperating in various fields like cosmetics, nutritional supplements, electroniccomponents, construction, and garment manufacturing have come to exploreinvestment chances in the province.

Thanks to promotion efforts, the FDI inflow fromthe RoK is forecast to increase even more strongly in the time ahead, Trucadded.-VNA