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| Increasing opportunities to approach businesses through meetings |
Developing a clear investment promotion strategy
According to the investment promotion plan for 2024, in the coming time, Thua Thien Hue will focus on calling for investment in areas serving the construction of a centrally-run city, under Resolution No. 54 on Prioritizing attracting FDI capital in industries welcoming the 4.0 industrial revolution such as ICT (Information and Communications Technology) industry, digital technology, nanotechnology, biological industry, new materials, high-tech industries and ancillary industries, etc.
Attracting investors in many fields is to the form and develop the centralized information technology zones, specialized medical centers, education and training centers, logistics centers, the tourism service sector and high-industrial agriculture, infrastructure of industrial zones, economic zones, non-tariff zones, urban areas, and seaport, heading towards making tourism a key economic sector; information technology a breakthrough; and high-tech industry and agriculture the foundation.
Thua Thien Hue also continues to call for investment in four important locations, including An Van Duong new urban area, Chan May - Lang Co economic zone, coastal areas and lagoons stretching from Phong Dien to Phu Loc, as well as industrial zones such as Phu Bai, Phong Dien, La Son, Tu Ha, Phu Da, Quang Dien.
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| Thua Thien Hue creating favorable conditions for investors |
On that basis, the province has built a list of projects calling for investment, updated information on priority projects calling for investment in the province in the period 2021 - 2025. Every six months, the list will be reviewed, adjusted and supplemented in order to eliminate projects that already have investors or are ineligible for calling for investment in 2024. Besides, the province will conduct surveys and gather detailed information for each project, including location, traffic connection, goals, scale, expected capacity, technical specifications, total investment, land use needs, etc., to provide for investors.
At the same time, the province has developed publications and documents to serve investment promotion, continuing to complete the investment promotion handbook in several languages such as Vietnamese, English, Korean, Japanese, and French. These documents are fully provided via QR code to provide investors with convenient research and understanding. Innovated and designed in new forms, these attract the attention of investors, ensuring professionalism and complete information to save printing and design budgets. Also, the video clips introducing the province's potentials and advantages in attracting investment are developed, reviewed and adjusted.
Attracting local investment
Along with adjustments in strategy as well as promotion and investment calling plans, Thua Thien Hue has also made adjustments in its mindset based on reviewing and re-evaluating promotion activities.
In the investment promotion plan for 2024, leaders of the Department of Planning and Investment admit that cooperation in investment promotion activities usually stop only at the exchange of experience and investment promotion skills and the promotion of locality’s image to other provinces or partners, yet has not brought about favorable outcomes regarding attracting investment. The process of calling for investment and selecting investors to implement projects often faces many difficulties and problems related to planning such as conflicts and inconsistencies between related plans, resulting in the adjustment and creation of new relevant plans. Therefore, business support is considered a key factor in promotion activities as well as the implementation of investment procedures.
Provincial leaders are very drastic in directing and administrating the affairs to best accompany investors. In addition to the establishment of four interdisciplinary working groups led by the Chairman and Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Committee to directly administer and promptly remove difficulties and obstacles during the project implementation process. The Prime Minister decided to establish the Provincial Investment, Trade and Business Support Center under the Provincial People's Committee last April. This is the agency that will carry out the tasks of investment promotion, trade, and industrial promotion, as well as consulting and supporting businesses in the province. At the same time, domestic and foreign investors who come to research investments will be supported and accompanied by the center until the project comes into operation.
Take implementation of the Aeon Mall investment project as an example. Starting at a rather special time, the two main partners, the People's Committee of Thua Thien Hue Province and AEON MALL Vietnam Co., Ltd., had to negotiate and sign a memorandum of understanding on the decision to invest in a shopping center in Thua Thien Hue Province online due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the project implementation process achieved unexpected results.
The project was approved for investment policy in May 2021 and for investor adjustment in August 2022. Construction of main items began in January 2023, and up to now, the project is in the completion stage. It is expected that it will be officially launched and put into operation by mid-September 2024. To achieve such progress, in addition to available resources from investors, the government’s companionship in the implementation of the project is the impetus for investment progress.
According to Mr. Okada Masaki - General Manager of AEON MALL Hue Shopping Center, in addition to the focused investment in resources of the business, the project has received very enthusiastic support and guidance from the provincial government as well as the local departments and branches. It can be said that the provincial government, as well as local departments and branches always actively listen, accompany and coordinate with investors in general, and the AEON MALL Hue project in particular, to find solutions to problems or difficulties of the business. Thence, investors can rely on specific instructions to ensure project progress and implementation of related activities.
The support activities not only promote the early implementation of the project but also create an effective spillover effect in the business community, promoting indirect investment through businesses that have invested in the locality before. Such businesses talk about the investment environment they are experiencing, thereby providing “investment inspiration” for other businesses with investment needs.
Mr. Phan Quoc Son, Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, affirmed that the success of the enterprise also meant the success of the province. Thua Thien Hue is standing side by side with businesses and investors to promptly remove difficulties, flexibly apply policies, and gradually build a safe, effective, and attractive investment environment for investors, which contributes to making the locality soon become an area with a comparative advantage in the region in attracting investment.
“We hope that each and every investor who comes to Hue will bring more of their friends to Hue,” said Mr. Phan Quoc Son at the opening ceremony of the FDI Club’s office.