Strongly Attracting Green Investment for the “Land of Happiness”

“Promoting the green brand, the “ASEAN culture city”, “ASEAN environmentally sustainable city” and “ASEAN clean tourism city”, Thua Thien Hue will continue to develop on a green, ecological, environmentally friendly foundation, worthy of being the “land of happiness,” said Mr. Nguyen Dai Vui, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, Thua Thien Hue province.

The inauguration of social housing construction in the province

Thua Thien Hue is making positive impressions on economic development, investment attraction and the business environment. What solutions and activities did the Department of Planning and Investment advised and implemented to help achieve the above outcomes?

In the past time, the Department of Planning and Investment advised and implemented solutions and activities as follows:

The department established the Small and Medium Enterprises Support Office under the Center for Investment Promotion and Business Support on April 13, 2020. The office supports investors and businesses to complete investment forms and administrative procedures; consults on investment policies and laws; and companies with investment activities. In addition to promoting local images and building attractive investment and business destinations, the office hosts business matching activities; coordinated with relevant agencies to propose the use of the Socioeconomic Development Support Fund for business and startup support.

The department arranged officers to work at the single-window division to make sure that administrative procedures are resolved conveniently and quickly to reduce cost and time for people; published the open and transparent process of handling documents to prevent harassment and negative acts.

In addition, the department advised the Provincial People's Committee to establish four interagency working groups, led by the Chairperson and Vice Chairpersons of the committee, to directly inspect and remove difficulties for businesses.

The department also advised the Provincial People's Committee to build and operate project management software to help businesses actively monitor project progress. This is also a channel for connecting investors with the government.

In particular, the department coordinated with the Thua Thien Hue Business Association to organize Café business talkshow programs to connect organizations, individuals and businesses with authorities to exchange and share matters of concerns. After each program, the department leaders directly assigned affiliated units and centers to synthesize and answer questions; found solutions and proposed policies to support organizations, individuals and businesses.

Moreover, the Center for Investment Promotion and Business Support also regularly updated latest investment and legal regulations for investors on its website and Facebook. The center supplemented and updated investment promotion documents, translated them into foreign languages such as English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Thai for more effective investment promotion; publicized socioeconomic development plans, priority fields and projects to attract investment.

From potential advantages shaped after the Provincial Planning for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, was approved, the preparation of mechanisms, policies and human resources, and the companionship of government, in which industries, fields and areas will Thua Thien Hue focus on attracting investment capital?  How is the scale and quality of projects?

The province defined that, in order to have strong development, it is necessary to clearly identify distinct and outstanding potential and strengths; foster focused development based on local demands and strengths and regional linkages to create spillover effects to promote the economy. Thus, we provide unique perspectives and visions for each region to maximize their advantages, potentials and strengths:

Hue City and surrounding areas are the center of the province with developed educational, medical and urban infrastructure. This area will focus investment resources on tourism development as a key economic sector, gradually build Hue tourism brand - a destination of five world heritage sites, Hue - Capital of Festivals, Hue - Capital of Cuisine, and Hue - Capital of Ao Dai. In addition, this is a proposed area for developing high-tech industries including: Manufacturing new materials, electronics - telecom equipment, information technology products, robots, remotely controlled devices, software, digital products and high-tech applied industries like chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biological products, medicines and vaccines.

The northern region, including industrial zones in Phong Dien, Quang Dien and Huong Tra districts, focuses on developing labor-intensive industries such as manufacturing apparels, leather and footwear, manufacturing or processing products from plastic and rubber, processing finished or semi-finished products, manufacturing medicines, construction materials and sanitary equipment, clean energy, renewable energy (gas power and wind power). The region will form two key industry clusters: garment and silicate (quartz) processing.

The southern region will focus on developing supporting, processing and manufacturing industries with added value such as beverages, metal products, packaging, accessories, electronics and household electrical appliances, mechanical products, automobiles and materials for the textile and garment industry.

Tam Giang - Cau Hai Lagoon area: The province will tap cultural heritage values, preserve and promote traditional cultural values, specifically spiritual tourism (religious tourism) through individual and community rituals and traditional festivals of the local community.

Chan May - Lang Co Economic Zone area will continue to be developed as an integrated economic zone consisting of urban, seaport, clean industry and important services. The region will accelerate the growth of processing and manufacturing industry, electricity production from greener energy sources such as LNG and renewable energy; prioritize projects with advanced eco-friendly technologies and modern governance, with great added value that can connect global production and supply chains, capable of leading and forming important economic ecosystems.

With a sense of responsibility and the best conditions, the province wishes and expects businesses and investors to actively research and learn about investment potential and advantages and clearly see development orientation and investment cooperation based on information from the provincial planning.

Chan May Port plays an important role in the economic development of Thua Thien Hue province, serving as an essential conduit for goods transshipment within the region

Thua Thien Hue is known as an early pioneer in attracting green investment. Could you tell us more about this and its development strategy in the future?

The province determines green and sustainable economic development as a long-term strategy. The focus is shifting the economic structure from industry - service - agriculture to service - industry - agriculture.

Thus, the province flexibly and creatively applied central policies to propose many policies suitable to local realities. The pursuit of green growth has been consistent and supported Hue City towards the goal of becoming an eco-tourism city in the coming time while also contributing to realizing the target of net-zero carbon emissions of Vietnam by 2050. The province rejected a zinc factory project in Chan May - Lang Co Economic Zone, a coal power plant project in Phong Dien to steadfastly pursue sustainable development goals on the basis of preserving culture and heritages, ecology, landscape, environmental friendliness and smartness.

In the industrial development planning for the 2021 - 2030 period and the investment attraction orientation in the coming time, the province will prioritize the development of clean technology, high technology and environmentally friendly industries such as information technology, software, electricity - electronics, agriculture and aquatic processing, food, beverages and pharmaceuticals. Besides, Thua Thien Hue will focus on developing high-tech, organic agriculture linked with the value chain and combine agriculture with tourism; develop the marine and lagoon economy on the basis of green growth and biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. Every year, the province integrates green growth targets into socioeconomic development targets such as forest coverage, population access to clean water, industrial parks with centralized wastewater treatment systems, and solid waste collection.

The province will enhance access to new projects, build an investment information system integrated with a digital map database to help investors access and update information and project locations easily; and continue to implement a number of policies to support infrastructure projects, support access to production and business premises and market development.

Thua Thien Hue will prioritize calling for investment in industrial zone infrastructure to attract secondary investors; logistics and seaport projects, clean renewable energy sources, entertainment areas, Hue cultural display and performance area combined with shopping area; and develop community tourism areas, ecotourism and resorts.

The province also aims to develop "green tourism" such as health care resorts, medical tourism, cuisine, eco-tourism products/check-in places in rivers, lakes, streams, waterfalls and lagoons; form new entertainment spots, nightlife service places (Hoang Thanh Walking Street - Phase 1), and green sustainable tours that preserve cultural heritages, use renewable energies and stay responsible to the community.

Currently, there are seven smart bike sharing stations in the city. Many community tourism destinations have been formed like traditional garden houses in Kim Long, Phuoc Tich ancient village, Thanh Toan tiled bridge, fishing villages in the Tam Giang - Cau Hai Lagoon, and traditional villages of ethnic peoples along Ho Chi Minh Road passing A Luoi district.

Thank you very much!

Source: Vietnam Business Forum