Working together with Investors for a Prosperous Gia Lai

Gia Lai province always accompanies investors for joint development and prosperity, said Mr. Vo Ngoc Thanh, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, in an interview granted to Vietnam Business Forum. He said the provincial government and all concerned authorities always accompany, support and facilitate investors to make investment and develop business operations by tapping local potential resources. Quoc Hung reports.

Could you tell us about the outstanding socioeconomic development achievements that Gia Lai province made in the past term?

With the high determination and effort of the entire political system, the endeavors of all tiers of government and all people to implement the Resolution of the 15th Provincial Party Congress for the 2015 - 2020 period, Gia Lai province attained important achievements, with 15 out of 18 major targets fulfilled or exceeded (seven met the targets and eight exceeded initial plans).

Gia Lai province achieved satisfactory socioeconomic development results in all aspects. The economic growth rate was as high as 7.83% (higher than the target set in the resolution) and the economic structure was shifted in the right direction. The economic scale increased significantly, with the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) reaching VND80.99 trillion in 2020, an increase of 1.65 times over 2015. Income per capita reached VND52.54 million in 2020, an increase of 1.5 times against 2015.

Focus has been on implementation of agricultural programs and projects. Agricultural output, industrial output, merchandise retail revenue, export value, investment value, credit lending and total social investment fund all increased. Public investment was centrally arranged. Planning management was concentrated. Administrative reform, competitiveness improvement and business support made progress and achieved positive results. Social and economic infrastructure was invested to interconnect localities. The National Target Program for New Countryside Construction produced encouraging results. People's livelihoods were markedly improved. Social and cultural aspects continued to be properly invested for progress. Political security was maintained and social safety and order was guaranteed.

In the context of difficulties and challenges, what factors help the province achieve these important socioeconomic development results?

In administration, the provincial government has adopted consistent solutions to achieve the highest results. Consistent views in the direction are:

First, maintaining sociopolitical stability and socioeconomic development in line with ensuring national defense, security and environmental protection.

Second, preserving and promoting the unity of all ethnic groups in the province to carry out policies of central and provincial governments.

Third, building a strong and comprehensive political system across the whole province; building a strong contingent of public employees; upholding the role, responsibility and spirit of agency leaders; appreciating innovative and exemplary characters of Party members and public officials.

Fourth, tapping and promoting local potential advantages to mobilize resources for development investment.

Fifth, conducting strict inspection and supervision to promptly detect, rectify and handle violations according to regulations.

Over the past years, the Government has made great efforts to improve the business investment environment and provide favorable conditions for business development. How about Gia Lai province?

Over the past time, Gia Lai province has endeavored to improve the business environment; rapidly increase the number of newly established businesses; reduce corporate bankruptcy; lower input costs and informal costs for businesses and citizens; support local business development; and improve local business competitiveness. The exertion of provincial authorities at all levels has been recognized by the business community, expressed through the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI). In 2019, Gia Lai's PCI reached 65.34 points, ranking No. 30 among provinces and cities in the country.

The business climate in Gia Lai has improved but its PCI ranking is still not high. So, how will the province work toward a higher standing?

In the coming time, the province will continue to focus on directing administrative reform and improving the investment environment, enhancing the PCI Index in a bid to woo more investors. The main tasks will be:

1. Accelerating administrative procedure reform towards simplicity, publicity and transparency; achieving 90% satisfaction of individuals and businesses with public service delivered by governmental agencies; reducing the time required to handle administrative procedures by 30-70% of the regulatory timeframe; enhancing information publicity of law, land, planning and tender to facilitate enterprises’ access.

2. More effectively operating the Gia Lai Public Administration Center, strongly applying information technology to administration, building e-government, boosting administrative reform and competitiveness improvement

3. Further providing online public services of Level 3 and Level 4; ensuring delivery of at least 30% of online public services of Level 4 as planned to serve people and businesses; widening the use of public postal services for submitting administrative procedures and delivering settlement results.

4. Training, fostering, improving professional qualifications, behavior, a sense of responsibility of public employees contacting and working directly with enterprises to provide perfect expertise and instructions and show friendly service attitude at work.

Do you have any message to businesses and investors?

As the leader of the provincial government, I pledge to businesses and investors that provincial and local governments and concerned agencies always accompany, support and facilitate enterprises to invest, develop and tap local potential strengths. The success of businesses is the overall success of the province. In the coming time, with the companionship and increasing contribution of the business community, along with the desire for innovation and growth of the Party Committee, the Government and the people of Gia Lai province, we will definitely join hands together to build a prosperous Gia Lai province.

Source: Vietnam Business Forum