From a very poor mountainous district, Mong Cai has grown into an urban town and a city with impressive development in all social, cultural and economic aspects. Technical infrastructure was upgraded to international infrastructure; social infrastructure was built to improve cultural and living standards. Roads, markets, cultural wards, educational facilities, and amusement centres have been developed evenly.
Today, Mong Cai is a dynamic, young city in the northeast of Vietnam. From 2005 to now, the city maintained rapid, comprehensive economic development, featuring average annual growth of 14.3 percent. The economic structure has been positively shifted, with the proportion of services increasing from 66.4 percent in 2005 to 73.2 percent in 2010, the proportion of industry and construction accounts for 11.9 percent, and the proportion of agriculture makes up 14.9 percent. GDP per capita reached US$1,500 in 2010, about 1.54 times higher than in 2005.
Mong Cai has grasped the golden opportunity “Mong Cai International Border Gate City Development Project till 2020” (approved in 2009). The objective of this project is to lay a stepping stone for Mong Cai to become an economic development centre of the Tonkin Gulf coastal economic belt and a development engine of northwest Vietnam. Besides, the city will be developed into the nucleus of the open economic zone, contributing to boosting economic, cultural and social cooperation and exchange and ensuring peace, friendship and mutual development. More importantly, Mong Cai City will be built into a goods and service exchange centre between ASEAN and China, and a major tourist centre of the northern region that connects localities to form regional tourism momentum. To carry out this project, a series of urban infrastructure works have been built in Mong Cai.
At present, Mong Cai is calling investment for major projects like Bac Luan 2 Bridge, Van Gia Port, international hospital, border residential zone, and free trade area. Along with economic development and urban infrastructure, the city also excellently resolves social problems. With attractive investment mechanisms and policies, it has become a favourite destination for many investors in the fields of tourism, commerce and industry. Every year, it creates jobs for more than 3,000 local workers and thousands of migrant workers. To maintain and ensure good employment for workers, it has employment support policies like labour consultancy, job introduction, labour market information, and vocational training funding.
Holding the advantage of a “border-sharing, coastal and riverside city" Mong Cai serves hundreds of Vietnamese and international companies to import and export through its border gates. In 2011, total import-export turnover reached US$6,220 million, of which exports were US$1,100 million, imports valued US$450 million and the value of temporary import for re-export goods was US$4,670 million.
To take up its potential and advantages, Mong Cai is stepping up synchronous infrastructure investment and key project implementation. It will attract investment capital from different sources and build markets and commercial centres. It will ask the central authorities to leave 30 to 50 percent of import-export duties for the city to increase investment for restoring and upgrading social and economic infrastructure.
Vietnamese
