“Sweet fruits” from attracting FDI
In 1990, BR-VT started to receive the first foreign investment projects in the country. Since, the province has identified its targets: developing industrial zones, attracting local and foreign investments for accelerating economic restructure and international integration. In 1996, the first two industrial zones- Dong Xuyen and My Xuan A with area of 290ha- were founded; and there were 6 industrial zones in the area of 2,500ha 4 years later. So far, BR-VT has had 15 industrial zones in 8,510ha and 53 general ports and container terminals. All industrial zones in the provincial area are located near the deep-water port system, which is convenient for import-export activities.
Investment projects in the locality vary in sectors and fields and works of investment attraction have also been oriented in accordance with the provincial advantages and potentials. A number of large scale projects invested in fields of industrial production, seaport, logistics services, tourism and services help contribute to economic restructuring, increase production ability and export turn-over, expand international market and have spillover effects to other economic entities, which stimulates local investment resources and improves production efficiency when participating global production value chains.After 30 years with many effective investment attracting polices, the province so far has had 415 FDI projects with the total registered investment of about USD 30bn from 30 countries and territories. In which, many countries have large FDI capital as the U.S, Canada, Thailand, Korea, Japan, the U.K, and France… For many years, BR-VT has been in the national top 5 in term of FDI attracting. These projects is usually of large scale and have large investment rate, less labor intensive and focus on fields of tourism, seaport and industrial production…
Selective investment policies of the province
With a selective investment attraction strategy, focusing on project quality, BR-VT has paid special attention to reforming administrative procedures, creating an open, equal and transparent investment environment for both domestic and foreign investors, publicizing major policies on investment attraction as investment attractions has to meet the needs of sustainable economic development in the locality, implementing selective investments as choosing those from large economic groups, those from countries with environmentally friendly technologies, giving priority to those suitable to the provincial advantages as assisting industry in mechanical production and tourism, not encouraging those having large power consumption, labor intensive and those causing pollutions. Accordingly, only investment projects that meet requirements of sustainable economic developments and environment safety are invited; and those threatening the provincial sustainable development will be considered or be even refused.
Talking about the selective investment attraction policy, Nguyen Van Tho, Chairman of the People's Committee of BR-VT province said: “With the development of a set of investment attraction criteria, the number of FDI projects has not been as much as expected. However, the quality and efficiency of investment projects have increased markedly, contributing to the province's socio-economic development, creating jobs and stable income for thousands of workers. At the same time, BR-VT is gradually becoming more proactive in approaching high-class and reputable investors”.
In the period of 2021 - 2025, BR-VT province aims to attract 150 new FDI projects with a total registered investment capital of about USD 3.2 bn and 185 domestic investment projects with a total of about VND 100,000 bn. To achieve the goal, the province will continue to improve the business investment environment; strengthen dialogue with investors and enterprises currently operating in the province in order to promptly resolve recommendations and remove difficulties and problems; deploy tasks and solutions to support and develop businesses as reforming administrative procedures, renewing business contacts by subjects, supporting enterprises to access finance, credit, having new creation…
Making seaport and logistics service the main pillar of the economy
In the coming time, BR-VT will focus on attracting foreign investment in fields as industry, seaports, port logistics, tourism and high-tech agriculture. At the same time, attracting investment is associated with promoting start-up activities, strongly mobilizing capital sources in the society for development. Along with that, the province of BR-VT reviewed and adjusted planning of industrial parks in the direction of selectively attracting investment in association with environmental protection, effectively using the land fund and forming industrial clusters with connection with each other, creating a foothold for the Cai Mep - Thi Vai port system (CM-TV); making adjustments to industries and trades to attract investment in industrial parks. On the other hand, reasonable land fund should be set aside for the development of logistics services, logistics to meet the needs of enterprises’ goods import- export through the port system.
Currently, CM-TV port cluster has 22 projects in operation, with a total length of berths of 9,947m, 7 container port projects have been put into operation, with a designed capacity of 6.8 million TEUs pa. With a continuous growth in cargo volume, CM-TV is the only port group in Vietnam that has mother vessels’ direct routes to Europe and America and has the highest frequency to the US in Southeast Asia, being in the group of 50 seaports with the highest container handling capacity in the world since 2019.
Believing in the exponential growth of BR-VT in the coming time, Cai Mep International Port (CMIT) is investing in super-large shore cranes and many other modern equipment to increase the port's exploitation capacity. Nguyen Xuan Ky- General Director of CMIT said: “The investment in super-large shore cranes and other equipment is an important step in the strategy of expanding the port business, helping CMIT prepare resources to better meet Vietnam's strong foreign trade growth potentials in the near future.”
Along with seaports, the logistics service sector of BR-VT province has also had gradually strong developments. In addition to the inland water ports, so far the province has 20 logistics warehouse projects in operation with a total land area of about 224 hectares. The completed construction zoning planning at the rate of 1/2000 of Cai Mep Ha Logistics Center will be the legal basis for selecting capable investors to participate in construction investment, connecting BR-VT to the global supply chain.
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