Southeastern Vietnam, comprised of the five provinces of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh, continues to be the fastest-growing region in Vietnam—growing about 50% faster than the national average. Much of this growth is driven by industrial FDI investment, with the Southeast accounting for over… Read More

During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the global passenger car sales market experienced a 15% drop. However, at the same time, the global electric vehicle (EV) market experienced a 43% increase, with Europe registering 1.4 million new EV units, followed by China at 1.2 million units, and the US at 290,000 units. In the first… Read More

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, global foreign direct investment into Vietnam increased by US$7.15 billion or 6.7% in the first half of 2021. Vietnam continues to be the go-to destination for low-cost manufacturing investments in Southeast Asia despite its middling ranking on the ease of doing business as measured by the World Bank – 70th out… Read More

Electrical energy consumption has outstripped even Vietnam’s heady economic growth. While the economy has been expanding at a 7% CAGR, electricity consumption has been rising at a rate of over 10% annually in the last five years. This trend is expected to continue in the short- to medium-term as Vietnam continues to absorb record foreign… Read More

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic Phase III in Thailand, on September 6, 2021, the Board of Investment (BOI) launched new measures to mitigate COVID-19 impacts as well as support the development of local vaccines and medicines. Firstly, in order to relieve the impacts of COVID-19, the BOI is making two of its investment… Read More

Biologic compounds are opening up promising new pathways for the commercial recycling of plastics. On July 2, 2021, several news agencies[i] published the discovery of a new source of enzymes that can degrade plastic. A paper originally published in Frontiers of Bioengineering and Biotechnology[ii] by an Austrian research team led by Dr. Doris Ribitsch of… Read More

Don’t let your efforts go to waste—if your company has a plan to incorporate energy conservation, alternative energy utilization or environmental impact mitigation, you should consider pursuing a compensation package as your project may be eligible. What types of investment activities are considered? A project must invest in: Upgrading machinery to modern technology that helps… Read More

Foreign manufacturing investment in Vietnam is preferentially located in industrial real estate zones—areas specifically zoned for industrial property—whose developers have acquired, consolidated, and established clear titles to the land and installed utilities and infrastructure to support manufacturing investments. The great difficulty in obtaining clear title to land in Vietnam, government policies promoting manufacturing clusters and… Read More

The Ever Given Suez Canal obstruction On March 24, 2021, the containership Ever Given, one of the largest in the world, with a capacity for over 20,000 TEUs (twenty-foot container equivalent units), on a voyage from Shanghai to Rotterdam departed the main channel in the Suez Canal and grounded on its eastern bank. Later, the… Read More

India has a long-standing relationship with reservation, a system that entails reserving quotas or seats in all public sector undertakings for marginalized demographics of the population in order to promote social and economic equity across the national economy. India’s private sector companies have been the engine of its development and employment generation since the 1990s…. Read More