Binh Duong – A land of many breakthroughs

Binh Duong has achieved many wonders in the wars as well as in years of renewal. Binh Duong - the land with many victories in the past, now rises up to become one of the major economic centers of the country.

Binh Duong set many achievements in economic development. In photo: Bau Bang urban - industrial zone.  

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According to Dr. Huynh Ngoc Dang, Director of Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, after 1975, together with the whole country, stepping out from the war, Binh Duong provincial Party gathered and led the people to overcome many difficulties, brought local strengths into play, such as handicraft, agro-forestry… to gradually restore production. New happy life, despite of many difficulties, has gradually formed with the joy of national reunification.

However, for many reasons, the country experienced a difficult period, both internal and external. Subjective thinking, pure willpower and centralized bureaucracy seriously affected the production force in the whole country. However, very soon thereafter, the Party's renewal line was born, and the whole country stepped into a new era. Binh Duong quickly developed its potential to become one of the leading localities in economic development, especially made important breakthroughs in calling and attracting foreign investments.

In the two wars against the French colonialists and American imperialists, Binh Duong was the land of convergence and exchange. In the peace time, these qualities of the land and people here have developed rapidly. Binh Duong had many innovative ways and breakthroughs leading the local socio-economic development. The most typical example was turning a long land strip in north National Highway 1A into Song Than 1, Song Than 2 industrial park after the re-establishment of the province. Then, a series of IPs came into being, gradually transformed Binh Duong into a leading industrial province of the country.

After 20 years of development, the province has 28 industrial parks with a total area of ​​over 10,500 hectares, accounting for 9.5% in number and 11.3% in area of ​​industrial zones of the whole country. In addition, Binh Duong has 10 efficient industrial clusters and many other industrial enterprises located outside industrial zones. In 2017, the province attracted more than VND45.5 trillion dong of domestic investment, up 52 percent, and more than $2.7 billion of foreign direct investments (FDI), surpassing 87 percent of the year plan, up 75 percent from the previous year 2016.

Up to now, Binh Duong has attracted 3,037 FDI projects with a total registered investment of about $28.47 billion, ranking second in the country after Ho Chi Minh City. Of these, investment in IPs was 1,878 projects with a total registered investment capital of $19.52 billion. This is a miracle, because more than 20 years ago, no one dared to think of a pure agricultural province like Binh Duong could have the ability to grow strongly.

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These days, traveling on spacious roads in Binh Duong, amidst busy traffic, the hustle and bustle of urban life, those who stick to the land, people here are very proud. Indeed, just looking at power system, roads, schools, stations to feel the change, feel the vitality of an industrial province is on the way. Rapid economic growth has had a major impact on infrastructure, accelerated the urbanization process and brought a better life for local people.

The economy of Binh Duong has strongly developed and been famous to international friends. From the perspective of many foreign investors, Binh Duong has an ideal investment environment. Therefore, FDI projects in the province have not only increased in terms of volume but also in terms of quality, with many large projects, high technology content. Kawaue Junichi, Consul General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City, said that in recent years, Japanese business community had increasingly invested in Vietnam in general and Binh Duong in particular. Binh Duong has many policies to improve the investment environment, support domestic and foreign enterprises. On that basis, in the coming time, Binh Duong will continue to be an attractive destination for investors, especially those operating in the field of supporting industries, urban services.

According to Park Noh Wan, Consul General of Korea in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong is the most dynamic province of Vietnam. "Binh Duong not only has good infrastructure but also has many incentives for investors. When investors come here to do business, provincial leaders always pay attention to, thoroughly understand and solve in time difficulties of investors. It can be said that while doing business in Binh Duong, many Korean businesses faced many difficulties due to geographic distance, language differences... However, all obstacles were solved quickly and completely. We are very satisfied", Park said.

With a tradition of overcoming difficulties, pioneering to innovate, Binh Duong is not satisfied with the achievements. Local Party, government and people are also nurturing larger plans to make Binh Duong a smart city, creating favorable conditions for building and managing urban centers; a destination of industries in order to bring people a comfortable, good and modern life.

In order to realize this desire, provincial Party Committee agreed on the guideline and set forth important orientations for the Smart City Scheme, creating a foundation for construction and development of five basic objectives: Improving the quality of human resources; modern civilized urban planning; developing services with high knowledge content; mobilizing resources for development; branding and developing international marketing programs.

With its rich experience and tradition, Binh Duong has a complete base to successfully realize the dream of building a smart city. The province is able to open a new page for socio-economic, meeting the needs of people and businesses; Advancing to a high-tech industry, aiming to become a worth-living city... And then Binh Duong would write new achievements in its socio-economic development process.

Reported by Khanh Vinh – Translated by Ngoc Huynh