5:27:36 PM | 8/5/2013
Situated in the heart of the Red River Delta, Hung Yen province was re-established in January 1997 after the division of Hai Hung province. Hung Yen is endowed with favourable geographical location for economic and social development as it is bordered by Bac Ninh province in the north, Hai Duong province in the east, Hanoi City in the west and northwest, Thai Binh province in the south and Ha Nam province in the southwest. According to the overall development plan, the province is part of the Hanoi region. Sixteen years after the re-establishment, from a poor and backward province, Hung Yen province gained rapid development and became one of 15 provinces and cities with the fastest industrial development and largest production value in the country. These results are significantly resulted from the province’s priority given to business development. To learn more about these contents, Vietnam Business Forum Magazine has an interview with Mr Nguyen Van Thong, Chairman of Hung Yen Provincial People’s Committee. Ngo San and Le Sang report.
Could you briefly introduce investment attraction and industrial development results of Hung Yen province in 2012, a tough year for the entire economy?
In recent years, with the "red carpet" investor policy, Hung Yen has attracted a large amount of domestic and foreign investment capital, a significant drive for economic development and employment.
In 2012, the province licensed 71 new projects, including 52 domestic investment projects and 19 foreign investment projects, with a total registered capital of VND2,611 billion (US$130 million) and US$186.4 million, bringing the investment project total to 1,021 projects (794 domestic investment projects and 227 foreign investment projects) with a total registered capital of VND55.91 trillion and US$2.156 billion. They employ over 100,500 workers.
Would you be kind enough to elaborate the province’s policies and solutions to investment attraction and business - entrepreneur support?
In recent years, Hung Yen has worked out policies and measures to address and remove difficulties and problems against enterprises in the process of implementing projects, carrying out production and business activities, and encouraged all economic sectors to invest in key infrastructure sectors with the solutions as follows:
a) Enhancing the competitiveness of industries and products of local advantages:
As regards industry, the province selectively selects processing industries and supporting industries with high added value, develops high-tech centres in close association with industrial and service sectors as well as the entire industrial system in the region, and creates a favourable business environment to attract outside investment.
With respect to trade and service, the province accelerates the development of commercial centres and wholesale markets, the establishment of retail distribution systems, gradually develops modern high-quality service sectors like finance, banking, telecommunications and insurance, embarks on the planning and reconstruction of the old Pho Hien Township in an effort to preserve, restore and promote the historical and cultural value of Pho Hien to develop tourism, encourages all economic sectors to invest, build and operate tourist complexes and high-quality entertainment centres to attract more tourists.
b) Institutionalising mechanisms and policies, improving investment environment:
The province effectively carries out the Government-backed Project 30 on administrative reform for the 2012 - 2015 period in order to make administrative procedures simple, reduce the time for processing administrative records, especially procedures related to investment, land, customs and taxation. All administrative organs have reviewed their administrative procedures and eradicate unnecessary ones.
Responsible agencies closely monitor operations of businesses; advise the Provincial People's Committee on making investment attraction policies, creating an attractive investment environment, and promptly removing obstacles facing enterprises during operation.
c) Continuing to improve infrastructure planning:
So far, Hung Yen province has 13 industrial parks approved for establishment by the Prime Minister, covering a total area of 3,184 ha, of which six have infrastructure developers and operators, specifically Pho Noi A Industrial Park, Pho Noi B Industrial Park (Garment and Textile Industrial Park and Thang Long Industrial Park 2), Minh Duc Industrial Park, Minh Quang Industrial Park, Agrimeco Tan Tao Mechanical Energy Industrial Park, and Ngoc Long Industrial Park. Three of them have completed infrastructure to house investment projects.
The high-speed traffic systems are being gradually perfected, notably the road linking to Hanoi - Haiphong Highway and Cau Gie - Ninh Binh Motorway, the underway road linking Thanh Tri Bridge to Dan Tien, Khoai Chau, and National Road 5B. Good transportation infrastructure will help boost socioeconomic development.
d) Accelerating investment attraction:
Hung Yen advocates promoting investment socialisation, especially in education - training, health, culture, sports, science and technology to raise the capital and resources from all economic members. In addition, the province has expanded and diversified investment forms like BOT (build - operate - transfer), BT (build - transfer) and BTO (build - transfer - operate), created favourable conditions for the development of capital markets, business joint ventures, and other investment contribution methods.
e) Promoting investment promotion:
In recent years, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee have launched investment promotion programmes with foreign organisations and individuals in Vietnam and in foreign nations to introduce the province’s potentials and investment environment, completed electronic information portals, gradually built up the list of priority investment projects and industries, placing emphasis on locally advantageous industries like electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing, automobile and motorcycle assembling, mechanical engineering, education - training, food processing, and arranged labour-intensive industries like footwear, garment, textile and handicraft to the southern part.
The province supports businesses with such activities as introducing investment potential, opportunities and international economic integration through its electronic portals and provincial institutions, through direct dialogues between authorities and enterprises, and through professional training classes for business executives.
How do you assess the position and role of entrepreneurs in Hung Yen province in the current period of accelerated industrialisation, modernisation and international integration?
As of June 2012, the province had 4,500 enterprises, 2,384 farms, 180 non-agricultural cooperatives, and 52,532 individual business households relating to foreign investment fields. If each enterprise, farm, cooperative or business household had one leader, then the province had up to 59,596 entrepreneurs (of over 4 million entrepreneurs in the country) at that time.
They are the major force for building and developing production and business models, representing new production forces, deciding the liberation of productive forces, accelerating the cause of industrialisation, modernisation and international integration and generating new value chains for society. They are the force that changes the class structure and maintains social and political stability. They are one of backbone forces in comprehensive strategy on growth, poverty reduction and social security.
With the Politburo’s first-ever issuance of a document concerning the construction and promotion the roles of entrepreneur force and business community, the Party has confirmed the roles of enterprises and entrepreneurs in the economy and the political system, unified the thinking of the roles of entrepreneurs, and encouraged the business community in Vietnam to contribute more to the country’s social and economic development. The introduction of Resolution 09/NQ-TW of the Politburo has met the requirements of the economy and reflects the aspirations of entrepreneurs.
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