Tan Chau Town: Reliable Destination for Investors and Businesses

Tan Chau is a national border-sharing town located in the northern region of An Giang province, where the upstream of the Mekong River flows into Vietnam. The town shares a 6.2-km border with Cambodia and is home to Vinh Xuong International Border Gate, which is the only river border crossing between Vietnam and Cambodia. This gate serves as an important economic and trade gateway for Mekong Delta provinces with countries upstream of the Mekong River. These factors make Tan Chau a potential hub for cross-border economic development, enabling the rapid growth of trade, service, tourism, industry, and handicraft industries.

Commencement of the construction of Chau Doc bridge over the Hau River 

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ve, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Tan Chau Town, said that Tan Chau currently aims to become a reliable destination for investors and companies.

2023 is the pivotal year to implement the resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and the 3rd year to execute the resolution of the 11th Provincial Party Congress and the resolution of the 12th Town Party Congress. Could you introduce remarkable results in this journey?

Right from the beginning of this administration term, the Tan Chau People's Committee worked out a 5-year socioeconomic development plan for the 2021 - 2025 period in addition to its specific annual plans to carry out 16 social and economic development indicators. Up to now, five indicators have exceeded their targets, one indicator has met its target and 10 remaining 10 indicators fulfilled 64.29-99% of their targets. Possibly, they will be completed by the end of the term.

Total retail revenue of consumer goods and revenue of catering and accommodation services in 2020-2023 was forecast at VND36,753.57 billion, completing 63.48% of the target in the resolution. The total value of industrial and handicraft production was estimated at VND13,676.39 billion.

Many companies have invested to expand their production scale and create more jobs for workers. Border trade is vigorous, with annual import and export value amounting at US$700-800 million a year. Trade value across border gates was projected at US$2.62 billion from 2020 to June 2023.

To date, six communes have been recognized to meet new rural development standards and one commune was certified to fulfil advanced new rural development standards. On average, a commune has completed 13.55 criteria and 47 targets of new rural development.

Implementing resolutions of the Party Congresses at all levels in the context of many difficulties and challenges in the way, what solutions did the Party and the government of Tan Chau Town introduce?

Tan Chau Town has successfully promoted the tradition of solidarity, dynamism and creativity to overcome all difficulties to obtain important achievements, boost town development and improve spiritual and material life for people. The town has witnessed reasonable economic growth; guaranteed social security; progressive education, training, health, culture and information; and stabilized national defense and security.

The town has focused on investing in key projects to ensure their connectivity with others, enhancing the effectiveness of socioeconomic infrastructure projects, providing favorable conditions for realizing economic development, industrialization, agricultural and rural modernization, service development and cross-border trade development goals. The transport system has been invested and upgraded to better serve socioeconomic development and people's livelihoods, thus creating more development opportunities.

The perspective of Chau Doc Bridge connecting Tan Chau with Chau Doc

In 2023, what key tasks and solutions has Tan Chau Town focused on to successfully carry out resolutions of the Party congresses at all levels?

To successfully implement resolutions of the Party congresses at all levels, Tan Chau Town will focus on the following solutions:

Tapping border-sharing advantages to develop trade, services and tourism; attracting investment capital for commercial infrastructure, forming a favorable environment for cooperation between manufacturers and distributors; calling more investment capital for projects in the border-gate economic zone to make good use of advantages in Vinh Xuong road and riverway systems; strengthening trade promotion, expanding market development for strong products; focusing on OCOP products, improving the production capacity of local strong products.

Developing tourism forms such as spiritual, ecological and river tourism.

Developing modern and sustainable agriculture; restructuring the industry with new rural area construction, improving incomes and living standards for rural people, actively preventing natural disasters and protecting the environment.

Continuing to implement the National Target Program on New Rural Development in 2020 - 2025, having three more communes to fully realize new rural development standards and encouraging more communes to satisfy advanced new rural development standards

Building schools that meet educational quality accreditation standards and meet national standards, mobilizing social resources for education development.

Continuing to implement the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction, focusing on vocational training and job creation, stabilizing people's livelihoods; well applying social security policies.

Tan Chau is one of the leading localities in carrying out administrative reform and improving the investment environment. Would you mind sharing more about the town's views, orientations and goals in the coming time?

To facilitate organizations and individuals in business and investment registration, Tan Chau will continue to speed up administrative reform towards increased leanness, consistency, synchronousness, publicity and transparency, especially in business-related fields like business registration, tax, social insurance, construction permission, and natural resources and environment. As a result, the town will form an open investment environment, a reliable destination for organizations, individuals, investors and enterprises to work effectively and contribute to local socioeconomic development.

Besides, the town will step up information technology application to management and execution of official duties; improve the quality of information portals and websites, regularly provide administration information, mechanisms and policies on the network environment for easier access by businesses.

In the past time, Tan Chau has received a lot of positive information from infrastructure development investment projects, expected to create breakthroughs in socioeconomic development and investment attraction. What do you think about the potential and development opportunities of Tan Chau Town in the coming time? To attract effective investment flows and create a boost to socioeconomic development, which solutions will the town focus on?

Tan Chau Town has a lot of potential, advantages and resources for economic development, especially trade, services and tourism. The province has invested in important infrastructure projects in the town like Tan Chau - Chau Doc Bridge, interregional traffic routes, Vinh Xuong International Border Gate, and Vinh Xuong Trade - Industrial Area. In addition, the blueprint Tan Chau - Hong Ngu Bridge will end the isolation and create breakthrough progress in socioeconomic development and investment attraction.

In the coming time, the town will continue to mobilize all investment resources for synchronous social and economic infrastructure development. The town will strive to complete third-tier urban area criteria by 2025, become a provincial city by 2030 and meet second-tier urban area by 2035. Tan Chau will continue to upgrade the urban space and invest in technical infrastructure to woo more investors.

Thank you very much!

By Viet Van, Vietnam Business Forum