Ernst & Young Vietnam Limited (EY Vietnam) and the People’s Committee of Ha Noi city jointly signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperating to exchange information and promoting investments in Hanoi. The MOU was signed at the “Ha Noi 2020 – Investment and Development Cooperation” conference held 27 June 2020 in Hanoi, participated by Vietnam Prime Minister - Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, other senior officials of several ministries and municipal authorities, and more than 1,200 investors and enterprises.

Under the MOU, EY Vietnam and the municipal People’s Committee are expected to share updates on global investment trends and domestic policies and legal frameworks on investment in Hanoi. EY Vietnam also agreed to support local authorities with reflecting proposals and recommendations of foreign investors and providing relevant advices. Both sides will coordinate to promote investment and attract the foreign investors to Ha Noi. The MOU is effective from June 2020 to June 2021. 

Mr. Jim Hunter - Managing Partner of EY’s Global Compliance and Reporting business, in his video message at the conference, noted that many global companies, even before the pandemic, were revising the supply chains to be not so dependent on traditional models. They also look for new opportunities from a vibrant economy perspective.

“So real opportunity right now with this conference to be thinking about”, said Mr. Jim Hunter. “Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city and Vietnam in general is very vibrant and uplifting place and a market and economy that is right for investors.” 

At the conference, participants also listened to the video message from Ms. Nobuko Kobayashi, Partner and Managing Director of EY-Parthenon, on factors that help Hanoi and Vietnam to become more attractive to Japan investors.  

“Post-COVID-19, we also expect that more Japanese companies will emphasize meeting the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals), the requirement from the UN”, noted Ms Nobuko Kobayashi. “To this end, the transparency of local supplier networks and their compliance to sustainability goals will be an important criterion for new investment from Japan”.

A recent EY Global Capital Confidence Barometer shows that 74% of Japanese companies will likely change set-up of supply chain post-COVID-19. 

The conference is held annually to promote the city’s investment environment and attract the investors. In total, 38 MOU, worth as much as 28.6 billion USD, were signed by the local authorities and investors this year.