Attracting FDI enterprises is an important goal
An imprint
2019 was considered a milestone in attracting investment as many big projects started to "land" in Hue; particularly, there were 39 projects being licensed with the total investment of VND 22,156 billion, which was 2.2 times higher than expected. Investment promotion activities have been active, attracting many large investors to examine the investment opportunities in the province such as Vin Group, Sun Group, SOVICO JSC, FLC Group Joint Stock Company, etc.
2019 was also the first year that the agricultural sector - an industry considered challenging to attract investment, witnessed many large investors in this field attending the investment promotion conference in which three major agricultural projects were awarded investment certificates.
The province also signed an investment cooperation memorandum to expand the production, processing, and consumption of organic agricultural products with Que Lam Group Joint Stock Company. All projects are now in the process of implementation; specifically, the 4F farm project of Que Lam Group was officially put into operation.
In 2020, investment attraction activities have met some difficulties due to the outbreak of COVID-19. And the activities for investment promotion have almost stopped as there was no way for the major partners from countries such as Japan, Korea, etc. to come to Hue to investigate the province's potential because of the social distance and suspended international routes.
However, by July 2020, the province also issued an investment policy decision for 13 new investment projects with a total registered investment capital of VND 4.598 billion, and five newly-registered foreign investment projects with the registered capital $18.5 million.
Among them, there are many big projects such as the project of complex automobile production and assembly plant of Bach Viet Automobile Manufacturing Industry Joint Stock Company with an investment of VND 2,655 billion; Vietnam Air Travel Transport Project (Vietravel Airlines), approved by the Prime Minister, with a total investment of VND 700 billion. These are considered as positive signs in this pandemic situation.
Adapting
According to leader of the Department of Planning and Investment, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected investment activities, especially in the foreign-invested sector. New investors would be more hesitant when making new investment decisions, and for the projects that have been investing, the investors will also limit their expenditure or only perfunctorily invest to reduce the damage.
The new free trade agreements officially coming into effect open many opportunities in attracting FDI capital for the locality. The investment promotion plans that were proposed earlier must be adjusted to suit the real situation, anticipating a new investment wave.
Also, on-site investment promotion is focused by regularly meeting and talking with enterprises to timely resolve difficulties and problems, create favorable conditions, and support investors to implement projects, and step up effective production and business activities. The province continues to support and solve investment procedures for projects being carried out to issue the investment policy decisions and investment certificates within 2020.
According to Mr. Nguyen Dai Vui - the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, the cheapest, most effective, and suitable investment promotion method in the current situation is to "take care of" current investors, make efforts to improve the investment environment towards completing infrastructure, enhance the responsibility of staff and civil servants and create an open and transparent business environment.
"Accordingly, the province will assist in the procedures to speed up the commencement of new projects being issued investment licenses. Besides, we also forward the support on the procedure for production development projects with the focus on large ones, create added value and budget revenue having a significant impact on the socio-economic situation of the province. Also, the review of the delayed projects is also focused to have a plan to withdrawn and completely handle them."
Mr. Nguyen Dai Vui stated that with the aim of strongly improving the investment environment, doing business must orient toward a friendly, safe, open, and transparent environment, creating favorable conditions and maximum support for the business community. Recently, the administrative reform has always been considered as an ultimate task and has made important progress.
As a result, the PCI score of Thua Thien Hue province in 2019 increased by 2.99 points (from 63.51 to 66.5 points); The province's competitiveness ranking accounted for the 20th position over 63 provinces and cities - up 10 places compared to 2018, and ranks 4th of the "good group." Therefore, the investment attraction environment is significantly improved.
"Along with calling for overseas investors, the preparation of every domestic condition is also taken into more consideration. We also carefully prepared available information and requirements to attract investors into priority areas such as agricultural and industrial production, tourism - services, trade, the information technology industry, etc. Up to now, the Department of Planning and Investment has accumulated information relating to 200 projects, among which 16 projects are published with detailed information to be ready to attract investment."
The Investment Promotion and Enterprise Support Center has actively assisted investors in handling related affairs, acting as a focal point to support investors working with localities to ensure the projects' investment research progress.
Story and photo: HOANG LOAN