Khanh Hoa Committed to Creating Best Mechanisms for Big Investors

Khanh Hoa is a miniature of Vietnam with plains, mountains, seas and islands. To turn potential advantages into development momentum, the province always opens its doors to welcome domestic and foreign investors with preferential policies and enabling conditions. Vietnam Business Forum has an interview with Mr. Le Huu Hoang, Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee, on this content.

Could you please tell us about outstanding achievements of Khanh Hoa province in the first months of 2024?

The province continued to maintain socioeconomic growth momentum in the first months of 2024 and achieved many optimistic results in all aspects. Specifically, in the first seven months of 2024, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose by 45.01% year on year. The total retail revenue of consumer goods and services climbed 14.7% to VND74,453.3 billion. The export value soared 25.88% to US$1.27 billion. Tourism revenue jumped 73.9% to VND33,108 billion, with more than 2.7 million international visitors, up 2.78 times from a year-ago period. State budget revenue reached VND13,367 billion, equal to 80.1% of the target and up 47.7% year on year. Of the sum, domestic revenue accounted for VND11,363.9 billion, equal to 77.8% of the target and up 46.2% year on year.

The province also completed preparations and obtained approval of Cam Lam New Urban Master Plan to 2045, revised Nha Trang City Master Plan to 2040, revised Cam Ranh City Master Plan to 2045, revised Dien Khanh Urban Master Plan to 2040, and four out of 19 zoning plans in Van Phong Economic Zone. Social security has been a concern for all levels, sectors and localities and implemented promptly to ensure right subjects and right policies in place. Many investment promotion programs and activities have been successfully organized by the Provincial People's Committee to open up many positive expectations for the province.

In addition, there are some difficulties and obstacles in carrying out Resolution 55/2022/QH15 on pilot mechanisms and policies for Khanh Hoa development. Notably, the local government bond issuance policy and the policy on separation of land compensation, support, resettlement and site clearance in public investment projects have not yet been specified. Moreover, other mechanisms and policies have not yet brought about records to be entitled to the policies, including licenses for maritime aquaculture to domestic investors in the sea area beyond six nautical miles, sea waters both inside and outside six nautical miles. The province decided to repurpose 1,000 ha of commercial forests as authorized by the Prime Minister. Accordingly, Khanh Hoa will gradually complete these policies to implement the set goals successfully.

Khanh Hoa will strive to become a major marine economic center of the country by 2050. So, what important goals does the province need to follow?

To realize the goal of making Khanh Hoa a major marine economic center of the country by 2050, the province will continue to carry out consistent and effective tasks and solutions according to Resolution 09-NQ/TW and focus on marine economic development tasks. Therefore, the province will effectively implement policies in Resolution 55/2022/QH15 of the National Assembly; and successfully execute the pilot project on Khanh Hoa high-tech marine aquaculture development after being approved by the Prime Minister so as to develop large-scale marine aquaculture in Khanh Hoa province, become a modern, synchronous, safe, effective, sustainable and eco-friendly production sector. The province will establish and promote the effective operation of the National Research Center on Ocean Technology, with a special mechanism on public-private partnership, to accelerate the application and transfer of ocean technologies for marine economic development.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Tuan, Chairman of the Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee and Vice Chairman Le Huu Hoang present MOUs to Japanese investors, October 2023

Khanh Hoa has also achieved impressive results in administrative reform, helping improve the investment and business environment. Could you tell us more about this?

The Party and the government of the province is always interested in administrative reform. Khanh Hoa has robustly executed Conclusion 91-KL/TU on continued administrative reform and State administration performance. The responsibility of agency leaders and the awareness and sense of responsibility of public employees in better administrative reform have been thus further raised. The Provincial Public Administration Service Center has been operated effectively. The province saw scoring and ranking improvements of the Public Administration Reform Index (PAR Index), the Satisfaction Index of Public Administrative Services (SIPAS) and the Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI).

The marine and coastal economic sectors of Khanh Hoa account for approximately 80% of the province's Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP)

This success is attributed to the province’s constant adherence to important orientations: Actively accelerating institutional reform, perfecting the regulatory system and administrative policies in all fields, creating a truly open and transparent environment for production, business and economic integration; actively reviewing and simplifying administrative procedures by law, reducing complicated and unnecessary procedures, creating a favorable environment for business operations, and boosting economic development; enhancing transparency, improving the speed and quality of public services, reducing time and costs for people and businesses; gradually improving the quality of civil servants from provincial to grassroots levels, facilitating them to upgrade their qualifications, capacity and creativity; speeding up digital transformation, actively building e-government towards digital government, enhancing security, safety and network security to boost the work capacity and performance of governments at all levels; building good mechanisms and information channels to widen interaction and participation of people, organizations and enterprises in decision-making, proposing opinions and giving feedback on activities of governmental administrative agencies.

What solutions has Khanh Hoa executed to create the best framework to welcome big investors to do business in the province?

The Eurocham - Khanh Hoa Investment Promotion Conference, held in Nha Trang City, is an opportunity for Khanh Hoa to call on prestigious, giant European corporations to invest in green projects with high added value, modern management and strong interconnectivity of foreign firms and local companies in Khanh Hoa province. In the coming years, Khanh Hoa will create more of the best mechanisms for giant firms to do business in the locality. To do so, the province will speed up the investment progress of key national and inter-regional transport projects; and invest in locally advantageous, competitive fields and regions while paying attention to poorer areas to shape more even development and narrow the development gap between cities and rural and mountainous areas. It will strive for broader administrative reforms, improve the investment and business environment to stand among Top 15 provinces and cities nationwide in the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) and build up the confidence of investors; adopt investment attraction strategies suitable for each market and each field. In its development direction, Khanh Hoa is committed to accompanying investors and enterprises to tackle obstacles and facilitating them to operate effectively and successfully.

Thank you so much!

By Hoang Lam, Vietnam Business Forum