Ha Giang province is gradually becoming a “promised land” for investors. Particularly, the province has achieved breakthroughs in administrative reforms in the principle that “each work has a lead agency, has a person in charge, has a time of completion and has a certain result” and enhanced information technology application in public services. Vietnam Business Forum Magazine has an interview with Mr. Nguyen Tien Loi, Director of Department of Planning and Investment. Duy Binh reports.
How do you assess recent investment attraction results as well as targets in 2020 in Ha Giang province?
Investment promotion is paid special attention by the Provincial People's Committee by launching many propaganda programs, advertising investment environment, investment policies, potential and opportunities for enterprises in Ha Giang. Specifically, the province hosted the Ha Giang Foreign Investment Conference in Hanoi; met with investors and organized “Ha Giang Colors Tourism Promotion Conference in Can Tho City; introduced investment promotion documents at investment promotion events launched by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the Northern Investment Promotion Center (under the Ministry of Planning and Investment), the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (under the Ministry of Industry and Trade) and other agencies. At the same time, the province has developed a list of projects in need of investment capital in 2018 - 2020; regularly organized dialogues between provincial leaders and the local investor community to provide information and promptly removed obstacles against enterprises.
In the past year, all levels, branches and localities in Ha Giang have focused on addressing planning and land issues to attract investment capital from enterprises such as TH Group which invested to grow and process medicinal herbs, raise cows and process dairy; VinGroup with ShopHouse hotel and trade center complex; and Travel Land Viet Company with community tourism cultural village complex.
The province also actively researched and assessed potential, markets, trends and investment partners; contacted and worked with many large domestic and foreign investors. Therefore, many Vietnamese businesses such as Sungroup, Thien Minh Group, FLC Group, as well as investors from Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and the United States, have come to Ha Giang to study and explore investment opportunities.
With investment promotions, 29 projects are licensed for a combined registered investment capital of over VND1,505 billion, including three hydropower projects, 10 mining projects, 14 agriculture, tourism and transportation projects. In addition, the province attracted seven official development assistance (ODA) projects and allowed 15 projects to adjust their investment capital. In particular, the province expanded tourism development cooperation with six northern provinces, eight northwest provinces, other Vietnamese localities and foreign localities. Thus, tourist arrivals to the province keep rising and tourism revenue exceeds VND1,000 billion.
In 2018, Ha Giang province’s Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) increased three places in rankings to 52nd among 63 provinces and cities. Could you tell us more about this result? To increase its PCI scores and raise its rankings in 2019, what tasks and solutions will Ha Giang focus on?
By quickly addressing investment procedures, shifting from pre-check to post-check mechanism in some procedures, the province has provided favorable conditions for decision makers to approve investment policies and project investment certificates, reduced by a third the time required to deal with investment procedures, establish enterprises and address Level 3 online public services. With constant efforts, the province’s PCI went up three grades in rankings in 2018 to No. 52 out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide. Among 10 component indicators, Ha Giang witnessed score improvements in business support service index (from 6.26 in 2017 to 7.31 in 2018) and informal charge index (from 4.49 in 2017 to 5.14 in 2018) and minor increases in proactivity of the provincial government index and labor training index.
In order to further improve the PCI index, Ha Giang province has stepped up administrative reforms, streamlined settlement processes, reduced the time of carrying out administrative procedures, reduced administrative costs, ensured publicity and transparency, and enhanced accountability of administrative agencies. The province has changed the mindset of public employees in service to people and businesses; improved business startup index, construction permit index, access to electricity index, and property registration and use index. The province assessed innovations and operating results of provincial departments and district governments based on department and district competitiveness criteria; accelerated information technology application in sectors and fields; strengthened the provision of online public services to areas directly related to people and businesses; connected and shared information among agencies to raise State management efficiency, increase the quality of tourism infrastructure, health care, security and safety, environmental sanitation in tourist areas; and worked with inspectors to reduce probing visits to enterprises, even specialized inspections.
What policies will Ha Giang province implement to further improve the investment environment and support businesses?
The provincial government pledges to facilitate businesses to access scientific and technological capital by applying scientific projects, encourage and support enterprises of all economic sectors to research and develop advanced technology applications; promptly apply scientific and technological achievements to production, life and society, mobilize resources to carry out general breakthrough plans of branches and localities.
Thank you very much!
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