Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee made 4 commitments to domestic and foreign investors

... On behalf of the Party Committee, Government and people of Nghe An province, I would like to send my sincere greetings and express my deep gratitude to the leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee and People's Committee; departments, branches, and units of Ho Chi Minh City; businessmen, investors, and all delegates and distinguished guests who took the time to attend the Investment Promotion Conference in Nghe An province in Ho Chi Minh City - an important event, extremely meaningful to the socio-economic development of Nghe An province.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy delivered the opening speech at the Investment Promotion Conference in Nghe An Province in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Thanh Duy

Located in the center of the North Central region, Nghe An is the province with the largest area in the country with 16,500 km², has natural potential and diverse geographical space including sea, plain, midland and mountainous areas. Population of more than 3.3 million people, ranking 4th in the country.

Infrastructure, especially the transportation system, has been planned and invested in to be increasingly complete with Cua Lo International Seaport, Vinh International Airport, Thanh Thuy International Border Gate. Nghe An, in the near future, will become a traffic axis on the North-South Expressway, Hanoi-Vientiane Expressway, the gateway to the Pacific Ocean of Central Laos and Northeast Thailand.

Vietnam's major commercial banking system all have branches in Nghe An; the electricity and water networks fully meet the needs of daily life and production; the infrastructure of economic zones and industrial parks is synchronous with many of the highest investment incentive policies according to Government regulations.

With its efforts, the province's socio-economic development in recent years has been quite rapid and comprehensive. Most clearly shown in 2018, the growth rate of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) reached 8.77%. Budget revenue in 2018 reached 14,052 billion VND, equal to 110.7% of the estimate. The economic structure has shifted positively, with the industrial - construction and service sectors accounting for a high proportion, reaching 79.5% of the economic structure.

The investment and business environment has been continuously improved, with Nghe An's Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) ranking 4th in the country in 2018; the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in 2018 continued to increase by 2 places compared to 2017, ranking 19th out of 63 provinces and cities, leading the North Central region. Culture, society, and people's lives have been improved and enhanced, with the poverty rate falling to 5.54%. The political situation is stable; national defense and security are maintained; social order and safety are ensured.

Along with the achieved results, Nghe An is honored to be one of the few localities to which the Politburo issued Resolution No. 26 on development orientations until 2020, in which Nghe An is placed as the development center of the North Central region.

This will be an important premise and motivation for Nghe An province to continue to seek new cooperation and investment development opportunities, including cooperation with businesses in Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring areas.

In fact, in recent times, the number of enterprises and investors from Ho Chi Minh City coming to learn, survey and invest in Nghe An province has been increasing. Currently, Nghe An province has 57 investment, production and business projects of enterprises and investors from Ho Chi Minh City with a total registered investment capital of nearly 35,000 billion VND.

Of which, 35 projects with a total investment of about 21,500 billion VND have been completed, put into operation and achieved high efficiency, such as: Saigon - Song Lam Brewery; Vinamilk Dairy Factory in Cua Lo Town, Golf Course - Resort Hotel Complex in Cua Lo; Vinh Tan New Urban Area; Saigon Eye Hospital...; There are 11 projects with a total registered investment capital of 3,565 billion VND under implementation such as: Nghe An General Hospital, Phase 2; Parking Center in Vinh City; Commercial center, hotel, housing and luxury villas...

The potential for development in Nghe An province is huge. Illustrative photo

On April 13, 2019, in Vinh city, Nghe An province, based on a comprehensive and in-depth assessment of the implementation results and positive effects of the Socio-Economic Development Cooperation Program between Ho Chi Minh City and Nghe An province for the period 2014 - 2019, the leaders of the two localities agreed to sign the Socio-Economic Development Cooperation Agreement for the period 2019 - 2025, in order to continue promoting cooperation in developing specific, effective and practical fields based on the potential and comparative advantages of each locality to support and create conditions for Nghe An province to closely connect with Ho Chi Minh City - the center of the Southern key economic region - the economic growth engine of the whole country.

Today's conference is organized as a concrete activity to realize one of the signed cooperation contents, an opportunity for Nghe An to introduce and promote the province's potentials, advantages, preferential investment policies and mechanisms to the domestic and foreign business community in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding areas; focusing on areas with strengths such as: footwear, seafood processing for export, tourism, electronic supporting industry, automobile industry, food and beverage processing; a forum for international organizations, investors, domestic and foreign enterprises to meet, exchange experiences, establish cooperation, and link socio-economic development between Nghe An province and Ho Chi Minh City.

At the same time, we feel that it is also the heart of the Party Committee, government, people and business community of Ho Chi Minh City for Nghe An province, the beloved homeland of President Ho Chi Minh, at a time when both localities and the whole country have just celebrated the 50th anniversary of implementing President Ho Chi Minh's Testament.

We realize that the potential for development of the province is huge, but "the land must be fertile for the birds to nest", entrepreneurs and enterprises, no matter how much they love Nghe An, must also consider the favorable and effective conditions when investing and doing business in Nghe An.

Therefore, Nghe An has been making efforts to become a reliable and attractive address for investors, which is: easy-to-access land - quick investment procedures - effective business - sustainable development.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy visited and inspected the exhibition booths introducing Nghe An at the promotion conference. Photo: Thanh Duy

In that spirit, Nghe An province boldly changes its thinking, applies new breakthrough methods in investment promotion; prepares conditions to meet the strict requirements of large, potential domestic and foreign investors investing in Nghe An province, specifically:

The first,Implement the construction and completion of synchronous economic and social infrastructure, conveniently connecting the province's key economic zones. Focus on the construction and completion of modern industrial park infrastructure projects such as: VSIP Urban and Service Industrial Park Project (Singapore); WHA Nghe An Industrial Park (Thailand); Hoang Mai Industrial Park 1, 2.

Monday,Provide full and timely investment incentive mechanisms and policies of the Central and local governments for each field in which the province focuses on attracting investment.

Tuesday,Strengthen administrative reform, apply information technology to shorten and simplify the time to handle administrative procedures for businesses and investors. Focus on human resource training and have policies to support the training of skilled human resources to provide for projects implemented in the province.

Wednesday,Do a good job of planning socio-economic development; sector planning, associated with the development of key economic zones of the province with a strategic, long-term vision. Review and build a clean land fund to be ready to hand over land to investors when needed. Create a favorable investment and business environment for business development, do a good job of on-site investment promotion so that investors can feel secure in production and business in Nghe An.

Businessmen learn about Nghe An products displayed on the sidelines of the Conference. Photo: Thanh Duy

In the spirit of putting investors and businesses' issues first, at today's Conference, Nghe An province hopes to listen to many contributions and initiatives from delegates to create great strides and positively change the investment environment of the province.

Nghe An is determined to develop strongly in all aspects to become an industrial province, an attractive destination for domestic and foreign investors. Nghe An will always accompany businesses, considering the success of businesses as a measure of the completion of the government's tasks; at the same time, it is committed to dedicating appropriate resources to complete that task well.

Hopefully, in the coming time, we will welcome a new wave of investment from domestic and foreign businesses and investors in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding areas interested in learning about and investing in Nghe An province.n.

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(Excerpt from the speech of Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee at the Investment Promotion Conference in Nghe An province in Ho Chi Minh City held on the morning of September 20, title given by Nghe An Newspaper)