Ha Giang province pays special attention to and firmly directs investment attraction, especially for agriculture, tourism and trade. Investment promotion has been carried out with radical, practical solutions and specific, transparent incentive policies. Mr. Luong Van Doan, Director of the Ha Giang Department of Planning and Investment, shared his insights on this issue with Vietnam Business Forum.
Ha Giang Provincial People’s Committee and Boeun County’s Government, Chungcheongbuk Province (Korea) sign a cooperation agreement on labor export
Could you please introduce some outstanding investment attraction results of Ha Giang province in recent years?
The resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress (2020 - 2025 term) and Resolution 13 of the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee on investment attraction in 2021-2025 determine the viewpoints and goals of attracting domestic and foreign resources to tap local potential advantages, speed up and sustain the economy, and gradually build Ha Giang into a developed tourism, trade, services and agriculture province.
In 2021-2025, the province aims to strongly improve the investment environment towards greater openness, transparency and equality to provide more favorable conditions for investors and enterprises; strives to upgrade the ranking of its Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) from average to good, and move towards the top in the country. Ha Giang hopes to draw VND25 trillion of new investment capital (averaging growth of 6.5% a year), with 10 - 15 projects investing at least VND500 billion each. The total disbursed capital will exceed 60% of total registered capital. The foreign direct investment (FDI) will account for about 5% of total registered capital.
In 2022, the province's investment promotion was carried out professionally as planned and produced relatively optimistic results. Ha Giang province provided planning information, supported 41 investors to study and survey investment project locations and signed a memorandum of understanding with Erex Japan Joint Stock Company. The province urged, resolved and completed land procedures for eight projects, environment impact assessment reports for eight projects and granted water surface licenses to four projects. The locality licensed 18 projects to invest a total of VND2,880.36 billion.
Ha Giang built an active, targeted, focused investment promotion program in line with the province's sectoral planning and development orientations in the 2021 - 2030 period. Would you be kind enough to tell us more about this?
Investment promotion centered on three strategic breakthroughs, focusing on allocating resources to upgrade social and economic infrastructure, especially regional and inter-regional connection infrastructure; and developing tourism and high-quality commercial agriculture along the value chain. The province prioritized investment promotion integrated with trade and tourism promotion, targeting investment projects on the officially announced list and green growth projects that generate growth drives in the long term.
The province actively developed appropriate support mechanisms, policies and solutions to ensure benefits of existing investors and improve the business investment environment. At the same time, Ha Giang gradually reformed investment promotion in a professional, practical and effective manner; prepared necessary conditions and actively invited and approached investors into potential fields that use advanced technologies, save resources, preserve and promote ethnic cultural identities, and protect the ecological environment; and regularly exchanged with investors to support and solve problems for businesses, thus creating trust for investors. Investment attraction focused on the following areas:
(i) Agriculture and forestry: Attracting associated investment projects to join the commodity value chain; prioritizing tech-driven investment projects to develop growing areas for production materials (like tea, Sanh orange, honey, cows and medicinal herbs); and developing locally distinctive agricultural production for tourism purposes.
(ii) Tourism and service: Attracting eco-tourism development projects associated with community-based tourism development in a bid to conserve natural resources and ethnic cultural identities; agritourism projects to produce locally distinctive products; tourism infrastructure investment projects, tourist stopover construction investment projects, and adventure tourism products; attracting investment capital for service and logistics projects in Thanh Thuy International Border Gate, Xin Man Border Gate and other border gates in the province.
(iii) Industry: Attracting agro-forestry processing investment projects, linked with local agricultural production areas, industrial processing projects, and environmentally friendly supporting industries.
(iv) Urban infrastructure: Attracting investment projects in residential areas and new urban areas, smart urban infrastructure projects in Ha Giang City and other residential centers as planned.
(v) Science and technology: Attracting investment projects that are engaged in scientific research, innovation and digital economy development; projects that apply advanced technologies, new technologies and clean technologies; projects that have spillover effects and connect locally disruptive fields with global production and supply chains.
To further improve the investment and business environment, what solutions will the Department of Planning and Investment recommend the Provincial People's Committee implement in the coming time?
To make new breakthroughs in investment attraction, the Department of Planning and Investment will continue to advise the Provincial People's Committee to effectively execute the resolution of the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee on investment attraction in 2021-2025; attract domestic and foreign investment projects in line with socioeconomic development directions shaped in the resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress (2020 - 2025 term); and adopt solutions to improve the investment environment and prepare necessary conditions (for planning, investing in technical infrastructure and creating a clean land fund) to attract large-scale investment projects that tap locally competitive advantages and employ environmentally friendly technologies.
Actively coordinating with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the Northern Investment Promotion Center - Ministry of Planning and Investment and related agencies to conduct market research and study local potential for expanding investment cooperation with companies and investors with strong financial, technological and production capabilities in industries and fields where Ha Giang has development strengths, such as agriculture, forestry, pharmacy, tourism and border trade. Priority is given to attracting investors from member countries of economic, trade and investment institutions where Vietnam is also a member, such as the ASEAN Economic Community, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Establishing a common database for better investment promotion: Data on investment incentive mechanisms and policies; information on general plans and zoning plans of economic zones, districts and cities in the province; land-use planning and current status; data on socioeconomic development orientations and policies; and sectoral and field-specified investment attraction; regularly updating data on the investment promotion website, http://investhagiang.vn, tracking project data and receiving feedback and reports on investment projects at duandautu.hagiang.gov.vn; and further accelerating information technology application to create favorable conditions for investors to access and update investment information and data of the province.
Actively organizing and joining programs, conferences, seminars on investment, trade and tourism promotion hosted by central agencies and other localities; maintaining and expanding external relations with other localities; strengthening external affairs with foreign partners.
Speeding up localized investment promotion by holding regular dialogues with existing investors and enterprises and supporting them to deal with difficulties and obstacles to carry out their projects; further supporting organizations, companies and investors to learn about investment laws and policies, and surveying and evaluating investment locations.
Thank you very much!
By Duy Binh, Vietnam Business Forum
Vietnamese
October 2024
Hanoi