A NutiFood’s plant in Binh Duong province (Photo courtesy of NutiFood)

According to experts, State-owned enterprises used to invest mainly inneighbouring markets such as Laos and Cambodia, but things have changed now.

Many investments now are made by private enterprises and span many fields fromtechnology and agriculture to banking and finance, they said.

Among those that have made rapid progress in this regard in the past two yearsis NutiFood, which has a series of tie-ups with foreign partners in the US,Japan and Europe.

It recently exported two million bottles of sterilised yogurt in variousflavours such as orange, strawberry and mango to the US.

This is the second nutritious product the company has exported to the US marketafter Pedia Plus, a ready-made milk powder for anorexic children.

The products are being sold through 300 supermarkets in California.

To enter the US market, products must meet many stringent standards set by theUS Food and Drug Administration, which also inspects and certifiesmanufacturers’ factories.

Last month, NutiFood and its Swedish partner opened a milk factory in Sweden tomake organic nutrition products for European and Asian markets.

Tran Thanh Hai, NutiFood chairman, said the plant would supply high-gradematerials for the company's product lines, and is an important link in takingVietnamese products to the world.

According to the Handicrafts and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnamese wood manufacturers have made great strides in exporting to the US.

In the first four months of this year, their exports were up 23.6 percentyear-on-year to 856.7 million USD.

Earlier this month Movitel, Viettel Group's subsidiary in Mozambique, waschosen as a partner for a World Bank project to improve living standards andaccess to finance for poor people in rural and remote areas in the southernAfrican country.

The project is divided into six sub-projects in one region each worth a totalof 35 million USD, with Movitel involved in three sub-projects worth 20.5million USD.

Many other companies such as TH True Milk, Vinamilk and FPT have also enjoyedgreat success with overseas investments.

Prof Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign InvestmentEnterprises, said the trend of overseas investment by Vietnamese enterpriseswould remain strong because it is an essential part of their developmentprocess.

In this context, relevant agencies need to strengthen administrative reformsrelated to foreign investment to make it simple and convenient, he added. — VNS