Sri Lanka Vietnam economic links to widen with re-opened embassy: envoy

Apr 28, 2011 (LBO) - Sri Lanka could attract investments from Vietnam if the path is clear and the two nations could increase two-way trade and tourism rapidly, Ton Sinh Thanh, Hanoi's envoy heading a newly re-opened embassy in Colombo, said.



FDI

Vietnam itself is receiving tens of billions of dollars of investment from Japan, Korea, Western Europe and the United States.

Thanh says three 120,000 foreign invested projects in Vietnam after it liberalized foreign investments and later decentralized investment approval to regions.

"To develop fast we need as much investment from abroad as possible," Thanh said. He said his government was striving to combat some negative aspects of foreign investment and improve the quality of investments.

Vietnam was ready to share its experience and strategy with Sri Lanka if needed, he said.

In the first four months of 2010 foreign collaborated projects in Vietnam had invested 3.

62 billion dollars, though new project approvals have fallen 47 percent to 4.0 billion dollars, a Vietnam news agency report said.

For the entirely of last year Sri Lanka received about 500 million dollars of foreign investment.

Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City area alone had attracted a bi