Improving human resources will speed up FDI disbursement

Hanoi (VNA) - Poorly-developed local human resources is one of the
barriers hindering the effective disbursement of foreign direct investment
(FDI) capital, despite Vietnam attracting record sums of FDI.

In the first nine months of this year, Vietnam recorded its
highest-ever level of FDI disbursement - 8 billion USD. However, this
represents only 14 percent of the total 57 billion USD of FDI attracted
during this period, according to the Foreign Investment Department under the
Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Despite an abundant labour force, foreign companies complained about a
shortage of highly-qualified and skilled workers, which hinders the progress
of large-scale foreign-invested projects.

According to representatives from Malaysia 's Berjaya Corporation and
the US Intel group, few Vietnamese workers are capable of meeting foreign
enterprises' requirements due to lack of experience and a poor grasp of
foreign languages.

To ensure the progress of their projects, a number of foreign-invested
enterprises, including Intel, organised a series of in-house training
courses for their workers, both at home and abroad.

The Taiwanese Foxconn group, in addition to constructing a human resources
training centre, sent their engineers on training courses in Taiwan to
ensure the smooth progress of its 5 billion USD project in Vietnam .

Unless Vietnam invests in better human resources and adopts an
appropriate economic policy, it will lose its attractive status to foreign
investors, making it difficult to narrow the gap between registered capital
and capital disbursement.

"It's high time Vietnam maximises the efficient use of FDI, not the
amount," Vo Tri Thanh, head of the Economic International Integration
Department, the Central Economic Institute warned.

Vietnam , recognising the importance of this matter, has worked hard
to develop a network of vocational training schools. However, following 20
years of renovation, Vietnam is still unable to meet the demand for
well-trained managers by FDI businesses.

Addressing the second Vietnam Economic Forum in Hanoi in late
September, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan affirmed that the
training of highly-skilled and qualified workers remains one of the
Vietnamese government's top priorities.

The Ministry of Education and Training has completed a proposal to provide
advanced training programmes at several universities during the 2008-2015
period.

The Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Welfare has set a target of
establishing 120 vocational training colleges and 300 secondary vocational
training schools.-Enditem