AFTER proclaiming success in containing the coronavirus, Vietnam is positioning itself as a safe place to do business, capitalizing on demand from international manufacturers looking to diversify their supply chains away from China.

Vietnam has reported a relatively small 288 cases and zero deaths, putting the Southeast Asian country on course to revive its economy much sooner than most others, according to public health experts.

“Given its fast response to the virus, we expect foreign investment to pour in to Vietnam after the pandemic,” Kizuna Joint Development Corp., which builds ready-to-go factories in Vietnam, said in a statement.

The company, which has a client base of mainly Japanese and Korean investors, said it is speeding up plans to finish a 100,000 square meter factory in southern Vietnam in anticipation of an increase in post-pandemic demand.

“The factory space will be ready by July,” Kizuna said.

Advisers who help foreign firms relocate internationally said Vietnam’s success in dealing with the pandemic had already boosted the confidence of foreign investors in the country.

“There is a sense from many of my discussions that Vietnam, relative to many countries in the world, will emerge even higher on the investor radar as a result,” said Michael Sieburg, a partner at Asia-focused consultancy firm YCP Solidiance.

Vietnam’s planning and investment ministry said the country was well positioned to assist manufacturers seeking new production bases.

“These opportunities will include the shifting of investment, particularly by large multinational groups seeking to diversify their supply chains to other areas, including Southeast Asia,” deputy minister Tran Quoc Phuong said in a statement on a government website. “Vietnam is among the first of those destinations.”

According to a government survey, 85.7 percent of 126,565 enterprises polled in Vietnam said they had been negatively affected by the pandemic, with those operating in the aviation, tourism, food and education sectors most affected.

After five years of growth, foreign investment in Vietnam fell 15.5 percent in the first four months of the year to US$12.3 billion, according to data from the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Still, Vietnam is targeting annual GDP growth of above 5 percent this year, a rare pocket of growth in a global economy facing a deep recession.

Fred Burke, a managing partner at international law firm Baker McKenzie, said the pandemic response had reassured businesses based in the country, which would help the economy rebound.(SD-Agencies)