Thinking about the 'Nghe paradox'

On October 5, the homepage of Apple (the American technology company currently has a market capitalization of about 2.1 trillion USD, equivalent to the GDP of Italy in 2021), posted quite interesting information related to Nghe An. In 2021, in the list of about 190 partners in the world, accounting for 98% of the direct spending of the "bitten apple" company on raw materials, production and assembly of products, Nghe An, along with many other cities in the US, Germany, Japan, Korea, India, China, Thailand ... are the addresses of factories of partners that are manufacturing products of the American technology company. Specifically, in Nghe An is the factory of Luxshare Precision Industry Company Limited in VSIP Industrial Park.

According to Nikkei Asia - a very prestigious English-language weekly magazine belonging to the leading media group in Japan, Nikkei, specializing in reporting on the economic, financial, business and investment situation in the Asian market, in 2021, Luxshare's factory in Nghe An was for the first time on this very strict list of Apple.

Image of WHA Industrial Zone 1 - Nghe An on Nikkei Asia

Also on Nikkei Asia, I read an exclusive interview with Ms. Jareeporn Jarukornsakul - President and CEO of WHA Group (Thailand). WHA's industrial parks are spread along the east coast of Thailand, a complex in West Java, Indonesia and an industrial park developed in 6 phases in Nghe An province, Vietnam.

The industrial park mentioned in the article is WHA Industrial Zone 1, which has completed phase 1 in Nghi Loc district, Southeast Economic Zone. The female Chairwoman of WHA Group said: The first phase of investment in Vietnam, specifically in Nghe An, has an industrial park of 143.5 hectares, currently invested by audio electronics manufacturer Goertek and Korean auto parts manufacturer Kyungshin, a supplier to Hyundai.

“WHA began looking for land in Vietnam in 2016, a pivotal year when Donald Trump was elected US President, heralding the start of the US-China trade war. At the time, Jareeporn said her optimism about Vietnam was driven by business cycles rather than geopolitics,” the article said.

“Looking back over the past 20 years, I have been thinking about shifting investment from the West to the East because businesses are looking for lower costs, from the US, then Japan and South Korea, to Thailand. What’s next? Vietnam,” Jareeporn said in an exclusive interview with Nikkei Asia.

A corner of WHA Industrial Zone 1 - Nghe An, in the Southeast Economic Zone. Photo courtesy of BNA

It can be said that the keyword “Nghe An” appearing on Apple’s homepage and in the Nikkei Asia article has great significance in promoting the province’s investment environment image to domestic and foreign investors, especially international investors, or in other words, this is a guarantee of Nghe An’s reputation when the competition to attract investment capital is extremely fierce globally as it is today.

That good signal also shows that the solutions to build a transparent and healthy investment environment in recent years by Nghe An provincial authorities are gradually permeating into reality and have been partly proven when in 2022, for the first time, our province, from an "unknown" in the FDI attraction race, entered the top 10 of the country. It is truly a spectacular breakthrough!

However, that momentum will be difficult to maintain, or even regress if Nghe An does not continue to change more radically and fundamentally to have a step forward in development. Because when we move forward, it does not mean that other localities stop. The other day, I had the opportunity to attend the Workshop "Socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security of Nghe An province to 2030, vision to 2045" in Hanoi organized by the Central Economic Committee in coordination with the Central Theoretical Council and Nghe An Provincial Party Committee to have more scientific and practical arguments, serving the work of summarizing 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 26 of the Politburo on the direction and tasks of developing Nghe An province from 3 perspectives: Experts, scientists; Nghe An province and management agencies.

With an objective and straightforward scientific spirit, the content of the workshop was truly high quality and left a strong impression on many delegates attending. I was deeply impressed by a concept that was probably first officially mentioned in a forum, that is the “Nghe paradox” mentioned by Politburo member, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council Nguyen Xuan Thang in his opening speech at the workshop.

What do we have? A rich and heroic historical tradition; a culture rich in identity. Intelligent and studious people. A diverse resource, even desirable to many other countries, not just at the local level. However, Nghe An is struggling with the problem of "overtaking" development; more worryingly, there are comments that Nghe An is facing the risk of "falling behind" in development compared to some provinces in the North Central region and the Central Coast region. Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien - former Director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics, Chairman of the Scientific Council, Vietnam Institute of Economics said that in the past 10 years, Nghe An has achieved remarkable results, especially in recent years. But those are "us versus us" achievements, nothing outstanding, not worthy of the determination set out in Resolution No. 26, Nghe An's aspirations and national expectations.

So when and how can Nghe An escape that paradox? Many solutions recommended by experts for the province are based on the current trend of high technology, high speed, global competition, instability and abnormality. Therefore, the logic of development is changing, now innovation and creativity are the foundation and basic resources of development; from there, it requires a change in vision, innovation in thinking, and a new approach to development.

Nghe An in the list of locations in the world that manufacture Apple products

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien said that it is necessary to fully and essentially realize the national and North Central and Central Coastal responsibilities that Nghe An undertakes, which are the responsibilities of both the Central and local governments, but need to be specifically assigned. The Central Government ensures institutional conditions, mechanisms, policies (support, superiority, and advance) and resources to help Nghe An overcome the "low" threshold that the province itself does not have the capacity to solve.

As for Nghe An, the province has a historic opportunity and must make the best use of it to “progress”; accordingly, it is necessary to establish a system of goals at the right level; resolutely pursue so that the Central Government can fully implement its support responsibilities; at the same time, it is necessary to design a good action strategy (outstanding and feasible), of course, it is necessary to work hard to “attract talented people” to participate in building and implementing the strategy. Industry also needs to make a breakthrough in output, structure and technological level.

Nghe An must soon complete the connecting infrastructure, including upgrading Vinh airport to a true regional international airport; quickly building Cua Lo deep-water port; and especially considering the construction of digital infrastructure as a top priority. These are extremely valuable contributions to the province in the process of building and forming new, substantial and practical development momentum.

The year 2030 marks 1,000 years of the name Nghe An. From now until then, will Nghe An be able to resolve the "Nghe paradox" to make a mark for the special historical milestone of 10 centuries? The aspiration to develop commensurate with its position, role, potential, and advantages has always been the concern of many generations of leaders and people of the province. The problem is to look in the same direction, strongly and widely spread the message of a united, creative Nghe An, with higher determination, greater efforts, and more drastic actions to break through in the new stage of development. Then, we will welcome more of the world's major brands to produce in Nghe An, not just the "technology giant" Apple. I believe so, if our aspiration and determination are big enough...