Online investment promotion with Indian businesses
23 projects being granted the investment policy approval
The outbreak of COVID-19 has greatly affected the circulation among countries, causing a disruption to the supply chain of goods and services, a shortage of production materials and consumer products, and a huge reduction in the economy's aggregate demand. This has pushed many businesses into a difficult situation.
The pandemic also limits cooperation opportunities, especially with foreign investors due to restrictions on movement, thereby, limiting the number of domestic and foreign investors who come to learn about the environment and register to invest in Vietnam.
Social distancing also leads to difficulties in surveying, assessing opportunities and implementing project-related works. Accordingly, investment capital is also affected. Therefore, instead of conducting surveys and organizing offline conferences on investment promotion, the province has turn these into online events by taking advantage of digital technology (virtually connecting with the world) to attract investment capital.
Right amid complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic which affect the implementation of the investment project to develop Chan May - Lang Co Economic Zone, Thua Thien Hue Province held online meetings with the Korea Land & Housing Corporation to obtain information, accelerate research plans, as well as conduct survey and document projects.
At the same time, Thua Thien Hue Province also requested the Group to update the report on investment research results and implementation progress as well as related difficulties and problems in order to help the project be completed soon and achieve the highest efficiency. The two sides also officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding on investment and development of Chan May - Lang Co Economic Zone in 3 stages of implementation, with the project scale of more than 1,800 ha.
In Phase 1 of the project, Chan May Industrial Park, which covers an area of about 115 hectares, will receive the total investment capital of about USD 34.56 million, equivalent to around VND 829 billion.
The province also signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the online conference with Aeon Mall Vietnam Co., Ltd. on creating conditions for this unit to research and prepare documents for the establishment of AEON MALL Trade Center project, with the estimated investment capital of about USD 150 million - 160 million.
In addition, the recent investment promotion session with Indian businesses was also conducted in online form through the program "Meeting Vietnam: High-tech Investments and Start-ups", in order to seek cooperation opportunities and promote the development of a Pharmaceutical Industrial Park in Thua Thien Hue.
The infrastructure of Chan May - Lang Co Economic Zone being invested
Transforming investment promotion events from offline to online forms is a creative and innovative way of attracting investment, since this is a feasible and economical option to promote the image and strengths of the locality amid the unpredictable COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to this, investment attraction events still achieved positive results despite the complicated developments of the pandemic.
The proof is that despite the difficulties with approaching investors during the pandemic, the Provincial People's Committee still granted the investment policy approval to 23 projects within the first 6 months of 2021, with a total investment capital of more than VND 13,300 billion. In particular, 15 investors were approved to implement the project, with a total registered capital of about VND 8,300 billion. When compared to the same period in 2020, there is an increase of 6 projects, together with the increase of about VND 4,500 billion in total investment capital.
Among these, there are outstanding projects, including the Centralized Information Technology Zone, the Commercial Center Complex in An Van Duong urban area, Western Pacific Group Company’s research and investment in developing logistics centers and industrial parks in Chan May Economic Zone, Chu Lai Floating Glass Joint Stock Company CFG’s research in glass production complex, and so on.
It is expected that about 25 projects will be granted investment policy approval in 2021, with a total registered investment capital of about VND 15,000 billion.
Diversifying investment forms
Mr. Nguyen Dai Vui, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment (MPI) shared that, to ensure uninterrupted investment promotion in the current situation, Thua Thien Hue has prepared digital data, expanded external channels, as well as established domestic and foreign cooperation in order to promote investment attraction in both offline and online forms, in which priority is given to the latter.
Currently, the Department of Planning and Investment has been building a list of projects calling for investment in the period of 2021 - 2022 with many contents, including the project title, the implementation location, the objectives, the project boundaries, the area, the current status of land use, the connecting infrastructure, the implementation procedures to ensure calling for investment, the estimated time to call for investment, the estimated time to start construction, etc. These pieces of information are regularly posted and updated on the Project Management page in order for investors to research remotely at their convenience.
The Department of Planning and Investment also develops and operates the Project Management Software, which helps investors track project progress and acts as a channel to connect investors with the government. Through the software, investors can reflect on problems with the government to solve and accelerate the project progress. Online supportive channels for investors have also been established to promptly assist investors with related procedures and papers.
Investment promotion and attraction are also diverse in forms, through promoting tourism, posting on the provincial tourism portal (viithue.vn), mobile applications such as Hue-S, Tiktok, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Along with that, investment promotion and attraction practices are also conducted through the province's promotion representative channels in Thailand, Korea, and Singapore to introduce investment opportunities and environment to foreign investors.
In the near future, the province will also organize an online seminar (webinar) to introduce investment opportunities in tourism and services, targeting local businesses and investors who are partners of the province.
Mr. Vui affirmed that despite complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the investment promotion practices were not interrupted. In fact, Thua Thien Hue has prepared digital data, expanded external channels, established domestic and foreign cooperation to promote investment attraction both in face-to-face and online forms.
Story and photos: Hoang Anh