The Fourth Industrial Revolution is presenting a lot of opportunities and challenges to developing countries like Vietnam. Seizing the trend of time, Binh Duong province has boldly renovated its development model, made breakthroughs in investment attraction, and formed a new driving force for economic growth and sustainable development through a long-term action program called Binh Duong Smart City Project.
Already good investment environment
By the end of 2018, Binh Duong had over 3,500 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a total registered capital of US$32.5 billion from 64 countries and territories, becoming the third largest recipient of FDI in the country. Besides, the province had 36,379 domestic enterprises with a combined registered capital of over VND296,989 billion (US$13 billion). There are many factors for Binh Duong to become a ‘leading light’ in investment attraction in the past two decades, particularly its treatment policy: Facilitating investors is a core task of the entire political system that turned Binh Duong from a purely agricultural province to a highly industrialized, urbanized locality in the southern key economic region.
Given its important contributions in investment attraction in the past time and its great expectations for development in the coming time, Binh Duong was honorably granted the Certificate of Merit by the Prime Minister and chosen as representative speaker on FDI attraction success at the 30-year review conference on FDI attraction into Vietnam that took place in late 2018.
Continuing its above results, right at the beginning of 2019, the Ministry of Planning and Investment chose Binh Duong as the organizer of the “Consultative Meeting on Institutional and Policy Improvement on Foreign Investment in New Context” chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue. Speaking at the meeting on FDI roles in industrial development and smart city development in Binh Duong, Mr. Tran Thanh Liem, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee, said that Binh Duong will continue to effectively implement solutions together with the implementation of the Investment Attraction Innovation Program in 2016 - 2020; and draw investment capital into trade and service, urban development, high-tech agriculture, high-tech production, environmentally friendly supporting industries. Moreover, the province’s determination for the new countryside construction program is also its resolve to create an ideal business and investment environment with expectations that the investment wave into the province will increase even more in the future.
Creating better investment environment
The business sector is one of four important pillars of development of Binh Duong Smart City Project, which focuses on developing the supply chain, strengthening business network connectivity, and raising the level of investment capital attraction, targeting technology and value-added enterprises.
Consolidating existing businesses and building new ones is the main goal of business sector programs and projects within the framework of the Binh Duong Smart City Project. Currently, Binh Duong has huge advantages in quality and quantity of industrial parks and manufacturing companies.
Sharing solutions on renovation of the Binh Duong investment environment, Mr. Peter Portheine, Development Director of Brainport Group of the Netherlands, which has 20 years of experience in smart city development, said that with many different ways, the province’s action programs need to be further promoted to support business development in the region, in the country and in the world, including business support and startup support. In particular, the province needs to pay attention to creating a network and linking to international networks of smart cities, science and technology centers in the world, particularly to organizations that Binh Duong province joined like WTA, ICF and Horasis as well as cooperating in supply chain, encouraging multinational corporations to hire local suppliers.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Truc, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, said, the province is now coordinating with concerned parties to research and develop an enterprise database management software system, which is the foundation for more effective business management of local authorities, and can, in the future, become an open database for specific areas for businesses and organizations to connect, research, analyze investment. This project is chosen for deployment and completion in 2019 by the Executive Board of Binh Duong Smart City Project.
Besides, in response to investment renovation policy, newly established industrial zones in the province are shifting towards advanced, green and clean technologies such as Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Park 2A and a 900-ha science and technology park developed by Becamex Corporation. Currently, some companies are cooperating in research and deployment of backend stage semiconductor manufacturing factories - a highlight in the launch of high-tech industry of Binh Duong expected to be started in 2019.
Needless to say, province's breakthrough strategies and investment attraction renovation towards a smart city initially confirmed its position in the international arena, opened a new phase of cooperation with other provinces and cities in Vietnam and in the world, facilitated enterprises to approach and go beyond the era of science and technology, consolidated investor confidence and made its FDI attraction more convenient and effective.
Mai Xuan
Vietnamese
