Bac Giang has more prominently promoted economic growth, attracted investment flows and facilitated production and business activities in recent years. In addition to good solutions for rapid and robust growth, the province has adopted long-term directions, radical solutions and drastic actions for a sustainable future. Ms. Bui Thi Thu Thuy, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, Bac Giang province, gives an exclusive interview to our reporters on this issue.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh conducts a working visit to the facilities of Hana Micron Vina Co., Ltd, December 2023
In 2023, the province attracted an all-time record of more than US$3.2 billion of investment capital, an increase of 3.2 times over 2022, and ranked fourth in the country in FDI inflows. What are your perspectives on these figures?
In 2023, like many provinces and cities in the country, Bac Giang faced numerous difficulties and challenges due to global political and economic instability. With its efforts to improve the business investment environment and raise the quality of investment capital, Bac Giang continued to achieve positive results by attracting over US$3.2 billion. Its FDI value ranked fourth in the country (after Quang Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong City).
The above results clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of the strategy of consistently carrying out many investment attraction solutions in recent years: Focusing on investment in infrastructure development (especially industrial park infrastructure), speeding up substantive administrative reform, preparing quality human resources, accelerating digital transformation, developing e-government, digital government and other solutions.
Not only actively contacting and inviting large foreign firms, the province also stepped up “local investment promotion” by forming an enabling and open investment and business environment for existing companies and projects, then encouraging them to expand investment, upgrade production lines and create more jobs for workers. As a result, more than half of the FDI capital invested in the province in 2023 came from existing projects, which illustrated the long-term investment commitment of investors in the province.
The province also required relevant agencies to regularly improve the sense of responsibility, spirit and attitude of service to people and businesses for their employees and clearly assign the responsibility and timeline of solving administrative procedures for investors.
From a purely agricultural province, after about 20 years of industrial development, Bac Giang has gradually emerged as a leader in investment attraction, including FDI capital. In 2023, the province achieved the highest GRDP growth in the country. This performance is a great motivation for Bac Giang to maintain growth momentum and become a sustainable destination for high-quality investment capital flows this year and beyond.
Impressively, Bac Giang has attracted many large-scale high-tech projects. Could you tell us more about how the province has improved the quality of investment capital flows?
The province has enticed large-scale high-tech projects from giant firms, especially FDI enterprises, like Luxshare, Fuhong, Hosiden, Siflex, Hana Micron, Newwing and Fuyu of Foxconn Group.
The above achievements have come from the ongoing effort of the Party and authorities at all levels. To attract more investment capital into the province, the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People's Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee issued many documents to guide implementation, including Resolution 105-NQ/TU dated April 28, 2021 of the Provincial Party Committee on improving the investment and business environment and enhancing the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in Bac Giang province in 2021 - 2025; Action Program 55-CTr/TU dated June 29, 2023 of the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee; Resolution 147-NQ/TU dated July 15, 2021 of the Provincial Party Committee on Bac Giang industrial development in 2021-2030; and Bac Giang investment attraction improvement project to 2030 appended to Decision 797/QD-UBND dated August 4, 2021 of the Provincial People's Committee.
To woo large high-tech projects, in addition to building infrastructure, speeding up administrative reforms, preparing high-quality human resources, as soon as investors intend to invest in the province, the Provincial People’s Committee established working groups (including leaders of relevant provincial agencies and leaders of localities where investors intend to locate their projects) to support them to deal with emerging issues. This is a key factor for the province's success.
Furthermore, thoroughly grasping the viewpoint on selective investment attraction and focus on large-scale high-tech projects, the Department of Planning and Investment, the Industrial Zones Authority and relevant agencies always carefully review project proposals from investors to ensure regulatory compliance and consistency with the province’s investment viewpoints, goals, and development orientations as well as investment capital, employment and high-tech application.
While focusing on removing bottlenecks in administrative reform, creating a clean land fund and developing infrastructure, Bac Giang also introduced fundamental solutions in human resource training. Could you please tell us about these efforts?
The province defines human resource training as one of key pillars, a driving force to promote sustainable socioeconomic development.
Since 2010, the province has allocated over VND2.6 trillion (over US$100 million) to invest in human resource development, concentrating on large training facilities like Vietnam-Korea Bac Giang College of Technology, Bac Giang Mountainous College and Ngo Gia Tu College. The above efforts helped increase the rate of trained workers to 76% in 2023 and basically met the employment demand of businesses.
In the future, following high-tech industrial development trends, particularly semiconductor technology, the demand for high-tech human resources is an opportunity and a challenge for human resource training. Grasping these trends, apart from reviewing and increasing investment in existing vocational education institutions, the province planned eight more locations with a total area of 25 hectares to build non-public vocational education institutions. The province will also direct vocational education facilities to focus on reforming training programs, especially programs about semiconductors.
Recently, Hana Micron Semiconductor Company (South Korea) inaugurated a semiconductor manufacturing factory in Van Trung Industrial Park (Bac Giang). This is the first semiconductor manufacturing project in northern Vietnam, an important signal to send to all levels and sectors in the province about policy making as well as identification of future human resource development trends.
While strongly opening up investment capital flows, Bac Giang has also attached importance to the quality and performance of projects and is interested in attracting green investment. How has the province applied these policies?
Bac Giang province's perspective on project investment attraction is that investors must have strong financial capacity, make highly competitive products and participate in global value chains; projects will have great contributions to State budget revenue and social security; and projects will have strong ripple effects on local socioeconomic development. Adhering to this perspective on investment project attraction, the province has attracted many quality, effective projects.
In response to governmental policies, the Bac Giang Provincial People’s Committee issued Decision 1026/QD-UBND dated October 15, 2022 on promulgation of the Bac Giang Green Growth Action Plan in 2021-2030. The Bac Giang Provincial Planning in the 2021 - 2030 period, with a vision to 2050, also determines comprehensive development in all industries and fields, in which industry will be the main economic growth driver. Therefore, the province's green growth plan covers the entire social and economic spheres.
The province attracted investment funds, developed new green manufacturing industries, limited the development of environment-polluting industries, and applied green technologies and operational management and control systems together with good practices and experience to preserve resources, reduce emissions, improve the ecological environment and restructure industrial production.
Bac Giang also advocated attracting sustainable projects (based on following criteria: no pollution, less land used, less labor employed, high technology, high capital turnover and high performance). The province paid special attention to infrastructure construction in industrial zones, especially wastewater treatment infrastructure, to ensure environmental quality when licensed projects go into operation. Currently, the province is looking to entice investment funds to build industrial zones aligned with the circular economy and eco-industries to form an “Industrial Ecosystem”. Last but not least, Bac Giang also coordinated with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to develop a Green Growth Action Plan for Bac Giang industry in 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, towards green, sustainable economic development.
Thank you so much, madam!
By Ngo Khuyen, Vietnam Business Forum
Vietnamese
October 2024
Hanoi