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

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

Among those that have made rapid progress in this regard in the past two years is 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 various flavours such as orange, strawberry and mango to the US.

This is the second nutritious product the company has exported to the US market after 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 the US Food and Drug Administration, which also inspects and certifies manufacturers’ factories.

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

Trần Thanh Hải, NutiFood chairman, said the plant would supply high-grade materials for the company's product lines, and is an important link in taking Vietnamese products to the world.

According to the Handicrafts and Wood Industry Association of HCM 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 per cent year-on-year to US$856.7 million.

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

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

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

Prof Nguyễn Mại, chairman of the Việt Nam Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises, said the trend of overseas investment by Vietnamese enterprises would remain strong because it is an essential part of their development process.

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