Attracting investment, creating momentum for rapid and sustainable development

(Baonghean) - Spring At Mui (2015) is the 7th year, the Conference to meet investors was solemnly co-organized by Nghe An province, the Party Committee of the Central Enterprises Bloc and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV). Through the meetings, many projects in various fields have been implemented, promoted effectively, creating a strong shift in the economic structure of the province. On the occasion of the Conference, Comrade Ho Duc Phoc, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, gave Nghe An Newspaper an interview about this issue...

Visiting the Export Plywood Processing Company (Nam Cam Industrial Park - Vinh City). Photo: Sy Minh

Reporter:Dear Provincial Party Secretary! How do you evaluate the significance of the annual Spring Meeting with Investors that has been held in Nghe An since the Spring of Ky Suu (2009)?

Comrade Ho Duc Phuc:The New Year Meeting with Investors has become an annual tradition co-organized by Nghe An province in coordination with the Party Committee of the Central Enterprises Bloc and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) since the Spring of the Year of the Ox. Since then, at the beginning of each new year, the Conference has become an investment festival in Uncle Ho's homeland, attracting more and more domestic and foreign enterprises and investors to meet and seek investment opportunities in Nghe An. After 6 times of organization, many projects have been signed and effectively implemented, creating a strong wave of investment in the province in all fields. Also from these annual Spring meetings, many investors have chosen Nghe An as a destination with a series of projects using high technology, effectively promoting the resources and advantages of the province in terms of land, labor, etc. This has been further demonstrated since the number of investment projects in the province has increased rapidly, more and more projects with large investment rates and modern technology have been invested in the province, contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of Nghe An. It can be said that the annual New Year's Investor Meeting is a meeting place for investors, with profound humanistic meaning, with the purpose of developing Nghe An.

Reporter:Thus, the annual Spring Meeting with Investors can be considered an initiative of Nghe An province as well as co-organizing units and has brought a new wind in attracting investment, creating a strong shift in the economic structure of the province, especially contributing to the effective implementation of Resolution 26 - NQ/TW, how has it done, Comrade Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee?

Comrade Ho Duc Phuc:The conference to meet investors was held in early Spring. Since Spring Ky Suu (2009), the image of a large, potential, and advantageous Nghe An province has been widely promoted domestically and internationally, especially becoming an attractive address and destination for investors, contributing greatly to the clear elevation of the province's image, rapid development of the province's socio-economy, and improvement of people's lives. In 2014 alone, Nghe An has newly granted and adjusted investment certificates for 187 projects with a registered capital of more than 55,663 billion VND, of which 105 projects were newly granted with a capital of 18,500 billion VND. If calculated cumulatively up to now, Nghe An has had 776 effective investment projects, including 733 domestic investment projects with capital of 164,937 billion VND and 43 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with capital of 1.6 billion USD.

There are many large, high-tech, effective projects that have come into operation, creating many jobs and contributing a large amount to the budget such as: TH - True Milk Dairy Farming and Milk Processing Project; Saigon - Song Lam Beer Factory; Hanoi - Nghe An Beer; Sabeco Packaging Factory; garment factories, electronic component assembly factories of Korean and Japanese investors, hydroelectric plants, Nam Dan Van An Jewelry Factory, etc. Many other projects are also in the process of construction such as: Hoa Sen Group's steel and corrugated iron factory; Tan Thang Cement Factory; MASAN Food Factory; Royalfood Thai Canned Fish Processing Factory; Lan Chau - Song Ngu Son Tourist Complex, Song Lam Cement Factory, Hoang Mai Cement Factory... are being newly invested and have their capacity increased. Many other projects are being studied and prepared for investment such as the Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Park Complex (VISIP 6); Quynh Lap 2 Thermal Power Plant; Textile and Garment Industrial Park of Tuan Loc Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company... When these projects come into operation, they will create a major economic breakthrough, create more jobs, increase budget revenue and have the effect of promoting and attracting other projects in the area, creating conditions for small and medium enterprises to develop.

In 2014, despite many difficulties, with the strong direction of the Party Committees, the government and the efforts of the entire people, especially the business community of the province, the province has had rapid growth: GDP growth rate reached 7.24%; budget revenue reached 7,656 billion VND, up 20.7% compared to 2013. Food output reached over 1.2 million tons. Total mobilized capital of credit institutions in the province reached nearly 67,000 billion VND; total social investment capital reached 36,000 billion VND, up 12.52% compared to 2013. The fields of education and social culture continued to have positive changes, education always ranked among the top in the country.

Healthcare, poverty reduction, job creation and social security have received attention, the poverty rate has decreased from 13.4% to 10%. Nghe Tinh Vi-Giam folk songs have been recognized by UNESCO as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The expansion of the Southeast Economic Zone and the approval of the Vinh City Master Plan have contributed to improving the investment and business environment in Nghe An province; In particular, Nghe An's technical infrastructure has made rapid breakthroughs with Vinh Airport being upgraded to an international airport, Cua Lo Seaport being upgraded, the road system and overpasses being built to create a new look for Nghe An... The above achievements in the province's socio-economy have extremely important contributions from the business community and investors, as a result of meetings and investment cooperation agreements signed in early Spring, creating the basis for Nghe An to complete the goals of the 17th Provincial Party Congress, creating resources for the 2015-2020 development period, effectively implementing Resolution 26-NQ/TW on the development orientation of Nghe An province to 2020.

Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh visited Tien Phong Plastic Factory - Nam Cam Industrial Park - Vinh City. Photo: Sy Minh

Reporter:Dear Provincial Party Secretary, besides the great results in attracting investment achieved through the Conference to meet investors at the beginning of the year, what are the points that we still need to adjust and overcome to attract better investment in the coming time?

Comrade Ho Duc Phuc:Investment attraction in general and investment attraction through the conference to meet investors at the beginning of the year in recent times have had quite comprehensive results. However, in reality, the effectiveness of investment attraction has not yet met the requirements and has not yet promoted the province's potential. The number of projects and the scale of registered capital are still low compared to the national average, not attracting many large projects, modern technology, as well as investment projects in industrial infrastructure, urban areas, education and training, health care to create breakthroughs to lead the restructuring of the province's economy... The number of investment projects in the economic zones and industrial parks is still too small compared to the total number of investment projects in the province; the work of monitoring, urging, directing and inspecting projects after granting investment certificates has not been carried out regularly and continuously, many projects are registered but few are implemented, so not many projects have been completed and put into production and use, promoting investment efficiency.

The direction of all levels and sectors to remove difficulties for investors in some places and at some times is still not drastic. Site clearance work is still slow, the clean land, electricity, water, road infrastructure, human resources for attracting investment are not ready...; infrastructure in economic zones and industrial parks is not synchronous. Although there has been some progress in administrative procedure reform, the processing time is still long, the handling of difficulties and obstacles for projects is still slow and not thorough, there is still a situation of shifting responsibility between departments, sectors and localities, prolonging work, reducing the confidence of investors...

Reporter:In order for this activity to play an increasingly important role in the province's socio-economic development, in the coming time, what will be the province's orientation in attracting investment and what needs to be prepared, Comrade Secretary?

Comrade Ho Duc Phuc:Resolution No. 26 - NQ/TW of the Politburo clearly stated: "Strongly improve the investment environment to attract domestic and foreign investment, focusing on developing a number of industries with high science - technology content and added value. Develop supporting industries, clean industries, energy saving, environmentally friendly". Therefore, Nghe An always clearly identifies that attracting investment is extremely important, deciding the socio-economic development of the province, this is the key political task of the province in the coming time. Investment attraction focuses on areas with rich potential strengths such as human resources, land, minerals, forests and seas, tourism potential, geo-economic position, infrastructure to most effectively exploit the province's comparative advantages.

Therefore, it is necessary to strongly improve the investment environment, from awareness to action of the government apparatus and people with the determination "All for businesses, all for the prosperity of the homeland". It is necessary to attract and entice large corporations from Japan, Korea, Singapore, etc. to invest in Nghe An, creating an economic breakthrough for the province. Continue to call for, seek, and attract potential investors to invest in projects with high added value, using modern, environmentally friendly technology in the fields of information technology, biotechnology serving agriculture, developing infrastructure, training high-quality human resources, researching and developing modern services... Prioritize large-scale projects, highly competitive products, participating in the global value chain of transnational corporations investing in the production and processing of agricultural, forestry, and high-tech industrial products, thereby building supporting industries; encourage and promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises; At the same time, focus on suitable and effective small and medium-sized projects for earliest implementation.

Promote the introduction of the province's potential advantages, introduce the Southeast economic zone and industrial parks; preferential policies and mechanisms to support investment, transparent investment procedures... associated with organizing domestic and foreign investment promotion and other promotional activities to attract stronger investment. Focus on attracting investment in key areas such as Vinh City and the Southeast Economic Zone, Hoang Mai - Dong Hoi area; the Western Nghe An area associated with large agricultural, forestry, medicinal material processing areas and minerals to help Nghe An develop rapidly and strongly to quickly become a fairly good province in the Northern region and the economic center of the North Central region!

Reporter:Thank you, Provincial Party Secretary!

Huu Nghia(Perform)