Nghe An innovates and creates in investment support and promotion
(Baonghean.vn) - The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the country's socio-economic life. In that context, the Nghe An Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center (NAPC) has proactively approached, innovated and created to both complete the assigned tasks and gradually adapt and prepare for the new normal state.
Unprecedented challenges
Entering 2021, although the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will continue, no one thought the situation would be more severe.
"Previously, on average, the Center provided consulting support to 2-3 FDI investors and dozens of domestic projects each month. However, in 2021, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, domestic and international tourism promotion activities were postponed or changed their form of operation. Not many FDI investors could come to Vietnam and Nghe An in particular. The opportunity for Nghe An to introduce and market advantageous industries that need to attract investment to the market and partners was minimized."
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| Proactively producing "3 on-site" in VSIP Industrial Park. Photo: Tran Chau |
On the investor side, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, investors, especially foreign direct investment (FDI), have had to change their production and business strategies. Instead of looking for opportunities at major investment forums, FDI investors are looking for investment opportunities through online channels or projects and investors who come first.
At the forumattracting investment in Nghe AnTaiwanese investors share that the biggest difficulty in finding investment locations is the difficulty of access and lack of on-site information, and strict epidemic prevention regulations in all countries. In Vietnam, due to the low vaccination rate, it is even more difficult. Meanwhile, Taiwanese investors know that Nghe An is a province with great potential in real estate infrastructure and labor force, the province is always committed to accompanying investors, so it has emerged as one of the priority destinations.
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| VSIP Hung Nguyen Industrial Park meets the criteria of being green, clean and modern and will be a great attraction for large investment enterprises. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Proactively overcome difficulties and create breakthroughs
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused international and domestic direct investment promotion conferences to temporarily stop, but a new trend has emerged: online investment promotion events. Starting with online meetings and exchanges between the province and domestic investors, in mid-May, Nghe An province and the Ministry of Planning and Investment held the first online conference on promoting and inviting Taiwanese investors to Nghe An. Next, with the connection of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassies, Nghe An also participated in an online investment promotion conference with Japanese investors in Vietnam and an online conference connecting and inviting investors from the Middle East to Vietnam.
At the same time, the province also continues to keep in touch with other investors to support and guide them in preparing project documents, ensuring the set progress, when the epidemic is controlled and the new normal state is transferred, it can be implemented immediately.
In addition to the above tasks, in the context of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, making it difficult for new investors to survey and learn, Nghe An prioritizes on-site consulting support solutions so that investors who have entered Nghe An have plans to expand and increase the scale of their projects. The advantage of on-site consulting is that investors are familiar with the procedures, so adjusting and increasing capacity and expanding investment projects is extremely convenient. Typically, some large projects in Nghe An such as Goertek Vina, after completing the procedures for phase 1, decided to double the capacity of the investment project. After completing the basic completion of the Hoang Mai 1 Industrial Park infrastructure project, Hoang Thinh Dat Company is promoting investment in Hoang Mai 2 Industrial Park.
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| The Hemaraj Nghi Loc Industrial Park Phase 1 has been basically invested in and is waiting for secondary investors. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
From 2020 to now, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of new projects is not much, but the number of projects expanding and adjusting to increase capital scale has increased rapidly. In addition to attracting a 200 million USD FDI project from Ju Teng Group (Taiwan) and building an electronic components factory in Hoang Mai 1 Industrial Park (expected to be granted the Investment Certificate at the end of September), in the first 8 months of 2021, the province has granted 62 new projects, adjusted 95 projects with a total newly granted and increased capital of 13,789.76 billion VND, compared to the same period in 2020, the number of projects increased by 19%, the total investment increased by 3.33 times.
In addition to attracting FDI investment, to enhance promotion and trade and tourism, at the end of July, the Provincial People's Committee worked and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Vietnam Airlines Corporation for the period 2021-2025 and gave each other incentives and support in promoting and developing tourism. Currently, the province has worked with Mitsui Sumitomo Bank Japan; at the same time, connecting and supporting major investors such as SunGroup Corporation, Nha Trang Bay Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, Zuru Group (New Zealand) ... to speed up progress and complete investment procedures in Nghe An as committed to the province.
Since the beginning of May, due to social distancing, work and project progress cannot be implemented as planned. The NAPC Center has directed specialized departments to coordinate and work with districts and towns to build a database of information on investment promotion as well as trade and tourism. The reason the Center has to take advantage of the social distancing period to update and complete investment promotion records and data is because one of the shortcomings in attracting investment in our province is that project records only stop at the stage of accessing planning maps and common land use plans provided by departments and branches. |
| Car repair at Nghi Loc Industrial Park. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
To overcome the above limitations, the Center is trying to assign each officer in charge of the project from beginning to end. When approaching and promoting investment, it is necessary to have a firm grasp of information and records of each area intended to invite investors so that the civil servants in charge of the project can answer any questions investors may have. For example, if the manufacturer is a manufacturer of bulky, oversized, and overweight components and equipment, it must advise on choosing an investment location near a seaport or a place with transport infrastructure that is not limited by weight or height. On the contrary, if the project requires a lot of workers, it must introduce a location adjacent to a densely populated area in rural areas; if the investor wants to hire local workers to build a factory, the consulting documents must include unit prices for labor and prices of key construction materials for investors to refer to during the project preparation process.
We believe that with the proactive approach and support for investors as above, investors will certainly be satisfied and Nghe An will score points to become one of the priority investment locations to decide on project investment.
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