Prof Dang Luu Mo, a Japanese-Vietnamese expatriate and an advisor to Director of HCM City National University, said capital and the time to recoup investment were not the only hurdles to luring investment in the training and healthcare sectors.

"We need to resolve hassles over administrative procedures and create a better legal framework to assure investors," he said.

Several experts suggested that a bank for overseas Vietnamese be established to draw investment funds along with projects and intellectual contributions from the expat community, he said.

Vietnam abounds in master’s degrees and doctorate holders as a result of years of training but still lacks a highly skilled workforce, according to Prof Nguyen Dang Hung.

The Vietnamese-Belgian professor said that scientific fields needed qualified experts, but not necessarily those with academic degrees.

Overseas Vietnamese investors were greatly interested in fields such as education and training, healthcare, and scientific research, Hung said.

"Investment from expats will rise once local administration proves efficient and bureaucracy is reduced at State agencies," he said. "Tougher measures should be adopted to punish corrupt officials, which would also assure investors."

A co-ordinating agency responsible for planning and investment and receiving complaints from overseas Vietnamese about diplomatic and internal affairs should be formed, he said.

Dr Pham Nang Tung, a microchip design expert for US-based Qualcomm group, said combining internal and external resources to boost the hi-tech sector should narrow the development gap between Vietnam and the rest of the world.

More and more overseas Vietnamese are expected to return to live and work, which will offer great opportunities for the country.

"Preparations should therefore be made immediately for the incoming wave of investment," said Ha Duong Duc, director of Officience Co.

Nguyen Dinh Mai, head of Sai Gon Hi-tech Park, said at a year-end meeting with overseas Vietnamese experts that the park had so far attracted 30 projects capitalised at US$1.5bil.

It has also accelerated the development of auxiliary industries and hi-tech supply chains to which several Viet kieu have made substantial contributions.

Figures from the Planning and Investment Ministry’s Foreign Investment Department show that a total of 553 companies were set up last year by overseas Vietnamese in the form of domestic investment, a 34% increase over 2006, with total investment of VND2.4tril ($150mil).

The country last year attracted 29 projects funded by overseas Vietnamese, who spent a total of $89mil, mainly on software processing, real estate, garment and consultancy.

Vietnamese-Americans took the lead with 11 projects worth $55mil, followed by Viet kieu in Japan and Switzerland.

In 2007, overseas remittances sent home via official channels amounted to $5.5bil, up nearly $1bil from 2006 and representing 25% of the nation’s foreign direct investment.

The Committee for Overseas Vietnamese reported that some 3.5mil Vietnamese nationals are residing in 94 countries and territories, 10,000 of whom are working in Silicon Valley in California.

Source: Viet Nam News