Comrade Le Ngoc Hoa: 'Previously we promoted Nghe An with the mindset of Nghe An people'

(Baonghean) - In recent years, Nghe An has made many breakthroughs in attracting domestic and foreign investment. Nghe An Newspaper interviewed Mr. Le Ngoc Hoa - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee on this issue.

PV:Dear comrade, to attract investors, what is Nghe An's strategy to approach businesses and investors?

Comrade Le Ngoc Hoa:Investment attraction work of Nghe An province in recent years, especially in 2015 - 2016, has made breakthroughs in the approach to strategic investors, investors of important importance to the socio-economic development of Nghe An province.

For domestic investors, we target large corporations and groups with brands in the country and region, such as Masan, Ton Hoa Sen, Vingroup, and in the near future we will continue to have an approach to attract investment from large investors and corporations.

Leaders of Nghe An province visited the enterprise's production facility in Gifu, Japan. Photo: Chu Toan

Regarding investment attraction, in the industrial sector we aim to attract high-tech industries in the fields of agriculture, industry and supporting industries. The sectors we especially want to attract investment in are IT, electronics and supporting industries.

In the agricultural sector, we are interested in calling for investment projects in agriculture, high technology, agricultural and forestry processing to help increase production value, added value of product chains; connecting investors, farmers and markets. At the same time, we build agricultural product brands for export, affirming the brand and difference for Nghe An products.

In recent years, we have innovated many ways to approach domestic and foreign investors. In addition to annual investment promotion conferences, the province has proactively organized direct meetings with foreign enterprises in their countries. For example, in 2016, the province organized direct working delegations to countries such as Japan, Korea, and Thailand to promote investment and approach enterprises interested in investing in Nghe An.

In addition, we have changed the way we promote the image of the country and people of Nghe An in a more systematic way, suitable for each partner. Previously, we promoted the image of Nghe An with the mindset of Nghe An people, but now we have switched to the promotion method of inviting and cooperating with foreign experts and investors to support the province in promoting the image of Nghe An. This is a new way of doing things that is highly appreciated by our partners.

PV:The innovation in the approach to investors was vividly demonstrated through two investment promotion meetings of Nghe An province leaders in Korea and Japan last October, sir?

Comrade Le Ngoc Hoa:Yes, through the investment connection agencies of Korea and Japan, we build scripts from films promoting Nghe An as a destination for investors to speeches, publications on investment promotion content, all consulting experts from those countries and inviting image promotion representatives who are famous actors known to the public to be ambassadors to promote the image of Nghe An.

Hemaraj Company leaders learn about the deep-water port's ability to receive ships in Nghi Thiet.

During the investment promotion trip to Korea, we simultaneously organized 3 investment promotion conferences in a short time, each conference we invited from 70 to 100 enterprises who are really interested in investing in Nghe An. There, we presented what they wanted, not what we have but they do not want.

Or, with the investment promotion and participation in the Cultural Festival in Kanagawa province of Japan and the fourth contact with the Gifu provincial government led by comrade Nguyen Xuan Son - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, we also did the same, we used Japanese experts to build documents and publications to promote the image of Nghe An province to be suitable and close to the way Japanese investors receive information.

PV:So, with that strategy, what is the most obvious result, comrade?

Comrade Le Ngoc Hoa:The most obvious result is that the number of foreign investors and the scale of FDI projects have increased significantly. We have successfully attracted the VSIP Nghe An urban area project, implemented by a Singaporean group in collaboration with Becamex Binh Duong Group on an area of ​​750 hectares in Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district with a total estimated investment of nearly 1,700 billion VND.

Up to now, this investor is urgently completing the contents related to the infrastructure of the industrial park, to call for secondary investors to invest here according to the roadmap committed to the province.

Hemaraj company delegation conducted a field survey at Vinh Station.

In particular, the wave of Korean investors coming to Nghe An is increasing. After the province's investment promotion in Korea, on November 6-8, a delegation of 15 individuals, representing 7 enterprises from the Keasong Industrial Park of Korea will come to work, learn and survey the investment and business environment.

Notably, these people all hold the positions of General Director, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and are capable of deciding to invest in Nghe An after surveying. In addition, we have successfully attracted and signed a memorandum of understanding on investment cooperation with Thailand's Hemaraj Group on building industrial park infrastructure.

PV:To continue creating an attractive destination for investors, what are the key tasks set by the province in the coming time, sir?

Comrade Le Ngoc Hoa:One issue that investors are particularly concerned about today that we need to do and resolutely do is to have consistent investment policies for each subject and each location, both inside and outside economic zones and industrial parks, within the framework prescribed by Vietnamese law.

The province will strive to make these commitments public and transparent, strengthen administrative reform, apply information technology to operations and serve businesses and investors through e-government and online public services to quickly and conveniently resolve investors' legitimate requests, and shorten project implementation time when investors have a need.

Along with that, the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee approved the Project of the Investment Promotion and Support Center under the Provincial People's Committee. This Center will advise the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and leaders of the Provincial People's Committee on investment attraction tasks as well as create breakthroughs in the one-stop-shop work to provide quality public services, meeting the expectations of organizations, individuals and people when working with the government. Through these activities, we will gradually improve the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in the following years.

New construction to replace old, degraded apartment building in Quang Trung ward (Vinh city). Photo: Le Manh Thang

The province will also do a good job of site clearance, accompany and remove difficulties and obstacles with investors, ensuring that investors feel secure in implementing projects. In addition, we must do a good job of promoting on-site investment, inviting investors to set up in the province but must create stability and trust from authorities at all levels so that successful investors who have made a name for themselves in Nghe An will have a voice to introduce and connect with investors who are interested and planning to come and learn about investment in Nghe An.

PV:Thank you very much, comrade!

Thanh Le

(Perform)