Part 3: The desire of reaching far out

After a successful tenure of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), Binh Duong provincial authority is planning to implement an investment attraction strategy for the next tenure. Binh Duong, by local efforts, has increasingly been in a position of attractive advantage in attracting FDI. For the time to come, all investment resources for development, in which FDI attraction is determined to play an important role, will be continually mobilized. The consistent point of view is that investment attraction must be directed towards sustainable development, environmental protection, and assurance of the interest harmony of the State, the enterprises, and the people.

Many projects of high-tech contents have been more and more attracted to Binh Duong. In this photo: Production of electronic equipment is on-going at My Phuoc Industrial Park III in Ben Cat town. Photo: Q. Chien

Quality improvement

In order to meet the development requirements and the trend of attracting "green" investments, Binh Duong provincial authority has been directing to selective investment attraction in manner of more intelligence, sciences and technologies, and environmental friendliness. To accomplish this goal, the provincial authority is focusing on strong improvement of investment environment and competitiveness to adapt to the new production under the 4th industrial revolution.

Implementing the Resolution of the 10th Provincial Party Congress on innovation of attracting investment resources into production and business operations and improving the quality of economic growth in 2016-2020, Binh Duong provincial authority has, up to date, not only exceeded the targets of capital and investment orientation but also created transformation of the quality of projects in modern orientation, synchronous technology, and large value creation in products as the necessary basis for the development of modern production in the time to come.

Dr. Nguyen Viet Long, Director of Binh Duong Smart City Office, said that the province has been positioned as one of the key economic centers in the South of Vietnam and of concentrated industrial development as one of the biggest destinations for foreign investments in the nation. The advantage is that the correct policy of the province to promote industrial development with highly added value content, to increase localization rate, and to form and develop supporting industries for participation into the global production chain in line with the smart city development project and the trend of the 4th industrial revolution have been in place. In addition to industrial development, modern, friendly and sustainable urban services have been developed in the province while infrastructure is being developed to serve economic development, investment attraction, and creation of an effective ecosystem.

Outreaching expectation

In order to realize aspirations, for the time to come, more efforts will be made in Binh Duong province to improve the investment environment. Beforehand, development of synchronous transport infrastructure and the call for investments into infrastructure of industrial zones and clusters will be focused on. At the same time, development of social housing models for working people has been attended to. The renovation of the development model was exampled by the cooperation and implementation of the Smart City Construction Project, the official membership of the World Technopolis Association (WTA) and the International Smart Community Forum (ICF).

Mai Ba Truoc, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, said that in the past tenure, FDI investment has made a great contribution to the economic development of the province. FDI also helped the province's export turnover to increase year on year, making a big contribution to the State's budget. It is noteworthy that the scale of the project has nearly doubled from 2010-2015, which is completely consistent with the investment attraction orientation identified in Binh Duong. In particular, 86% of FDI amount has been invested in the processing industry, manufacturing, mechanics, electricity, and electronics including a dozen of projects with the size of USD 250 - 760 million, evidencing for the fact that Binh Duong has become and really is a good destination for investors. The investment resources in the past 5 years has contributed to making Binh Duong a major production and export center of the nation with an average industrial value and export value of more than 10% of nation's total industrial output and export value.

In the next stage, targets for attracting FDI to maintain the existing advantages have been set by striving to attract up to USD 10 billion of registered FDI capital in 2021-2025. In the process FDI attraction, high-tech projects of less labor and highly added value will be selected. It has been determined in Binh Duong that industry is still holding the key of the province's economic development in the coming years.

Mai Hung Dung, Standing Member of Provincial Party Committee cum Standing Deputy Chairman of Provincial People's Committee, said that in order to achieve the goals, many tasks are to be solved in addition to the quality improvement of FDI attraction through the reformed administrative procedures, creating openness and favorable conditions for the investors and preparing land for expansion of industrial zones and the selective attracting projects. Besides, methods of investment promotion are being diversified by coordination with ministries and departments, strengthening regional linkages in investment attraction and coordinating with neighboring provinces and cities to select projects and call for investment of, especially, locomotive and supporting industries.

Dung also asserted that projects of modern and environment-friendly approaches shall be thoroughly considered. Encouragement is also implemented in the province for enterprises of technology reforms and increased connection with greater groups. Beside industrial development, urban services have been developed in the province by the modern, friendly, and sustainable approaches. Infrastructure shall be developed to service economic development and investment luring while creating an effective ecosystem.

By catching the opportunities of development and integration of the nation to the world and early establishment of orientation and unique ways, Binh Duong province has become a place for world leading groups which helped to position Binh Duong in global value chain. To the deepest belief, the clear orientation of investment luring and favorable policies shall maintain the position of Binh Duong as an attractive destination for domestic and foreign investors.

Reported by Ngoc Thanh – Translated by Vi Bao