Nguyen Duc Chinh

Vietnam’s economy is entering a new development stage, with a raft of free trade agreements, the adoption of a new five-year socio-economic development plan, and a newly-elected government. Does this upheaval affect the province’s development plan?

Like other localities nationwide, Quang Tri has ushered in a new stage in its development in 2016. The province’s socio-economic structure has been strengthened, with an improved environment for investment, production, and business. Local advantages are gradually being tapped.

Difficulties, however, remain. Major obstacles include low growth quality, low competitiveness, and difficulty in attracting investment capital, which has adversely affected the implementation of large projects in the province. Additionally, natural calamities and epidemic outbreaks have proven unpredictable and extremely difficult to solve. These factors need to be taken into account in the next development phase.

We have therefore set forth concrete socio-economic development goals and measures in this new stage. In parallel to attracting investments and using resources effectively, we are focusing on improving the quality of our human resources, as well as increasing access to education and training in science and technology. High-quality human resources are necessary to boost the efficiency and competitiveness of companies, as well as raising the living standards for people. Education in science and technology is considered a solid foundation, and a motivating force for faster and more sustainable development.

Besides, economic development and sustainable growth must be closely linked to social development and climate change response.

Quang Tri was a hive of activities during the successful Investment-Tourism Promotion Conference, where a raft of new investment projects were set in stone

Will these improvements be highlighted at the provincial investment-tourism promotion conference?

There have been changes in our investment promotion methods, as we engaged financial institutions to improve the projects’ feasibility as well as investment efficiency.

We need a new way of thinking and new methods in implementing our annual and five-year development plans to bolster efficiency in mobilising, distributing, and using state and social resources.

Under our socio-economic development plan, the Quang Tri People’s Committee will mobilise capital and develop human resources as well as science and technology in a comprehensive manner. The plan’s concrete policies will ensure the successful implementation of these goals.

Specifically, provincial authorities have taken measures to drastically improve the investment and business climate in order to enhance our provincial competitiveness index (PCI) score. Efforts are also geared towards prioritising administrative reforms related to investors, and fully exercising both local and state investment incentive policies.

With this new approach, aside from incentives applied to projects in energy, agricultural and seafood processing, infrastructure, education, healthcare, and trade and services, we are seeking better investment sources to propel economic growth in the spirit of the 16th provincial Party Committee Resolution.

What does Quang Tri in particular have for investors?

Quang Tri is far from most large economic centres, while its social and economic infrastructure remains underdeveloped, particularly infrastructure essential to investors, such as airports and seaports. Therefore, to attract investors we must improve the investment climate and boost economic reforms to support investors - from start-up to project execution. The main theme of the 16th provincial Party Committee’s second meeting last November centred on administrative reforms and enhancing the investment and business climate. In this vein, the Quang Tri People’s Committee has enacted a series of guiding documents, including one (Decision 2563/2015/QD-UBND) on the implementation of a one-stop shop mechanism to handle investment-related administrative procedures.

The authorities have also been decentralised to diverse local government agencies to support investors. For instance, investors at industrial, economic, and trade zones can come to the Economic Zone Management Authority for help when necessary, whereas investors outside these zones turn to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment. These government agencies will provide support to investors coming to the province to learn about opportunities here.

Different locations therefore have different government bodies managing investment procedures. This helps shorten the time to complete administrative procedures by 10-15 days.

Are there other tasks?

There is a huge amount of work for us to tackle at different levels.

First, we want to raise the PCI by improving our production and business environment. Our goal is reaching a place in the top 20 localities in Vietnam.

Second, we will continue to upgrade our infrastructure. As a poor locality with a limited budget, we have incentive policies and welcome any investment in infrastructure development. The private sector is encouraged to take part in building bus stations, ports, schools, medical facilities, and so on.

Third, improving the quality of human resources and vocational training.

Fourth, we need to boost our investment promotion, particularly by providing businesses, organisations and investors with updated information about laws and policies, investment procedures, the province’s potential, the market, potential partners, and investment opportunities. They will receive further support in project execution after being granted investment certificates.

With such strenuous efforts, we expect Quang Tri to grow into an attractive destination for both domestic and foreign investors.