The headquarters of Unitel, whose mother company is Vietnam’s military-run Viettel Group, is located in Laos - PHOTO: VGP

HCMC - Vietnam’s outward investment in the first four months of 2021 reached nearly US$546 million, surging by 7.9 times compared with the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Specifically, 18 projects worth US$142.8 million received investment licenses and nine projects got additional capital of US$403.2 million.

Data of the ministry showed that Vietnamese companies invested in 10 sectors in foreign countries between January and April. The science and technology sector attracted the largest investment with US$279.8 million, accounting for 49.6% of the total.

Retail ranked second with US$147.8 million, accounting for 27.1%, followed by agriculture-forestry-aquaculture and supporting services.

Vietnamese companies invested in 15 countries and territories, with the United States absorbing US$302.3 million of the registered capital (accounting for 55.4%), followed by Cambodia with US$89.1 million (16.3%), France, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands.

As of April 20, Vietnam had 1,417 valid outward investment projects worth US$21.8 billion. The biggest investment was poured into mineral exploitation, accounting for 36% of the total, followed by the agriculture-forestry-aquaculture sector with 15.4%.

Laos was the biggest recipient of Vietnamese investment to date, accounting for 23.1% of the registered capital, followed by Cambodia with 13% and Russia with 12.7%.

Vietnam’s outward investment in 2020 was more than US$590 million, increasing 16.1% year-on-year.