An Giang province is now catching the attention of Japanese investors, particularly when investment attraction in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces has become overloaded. Le Van Phuoc, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment of An Giang Province, said, “In the long term, the province will consider building an industrial park specifically dedicated to Japanese enterprises in an appropriate time." My Chau reports.
Could you briefly introduce the potentials, strengths and investment opportunities in An Giang?
In addition to a very convenient traffic system, An Giang province has My Thoi Port - a national point of trade which can accommodate domestic and foreign vessels with a tonnage of 5,000 tonnes. In the coming time when the Dinh An Canal or the Quan Chanh Bo Canal is put into operation, the port will be able to serve ships of 10,000 tonnes - 15,000 tonnes.
In addition, An Giang is in an advantageous position for inter-regional and inter-national economic and commercial development because the province lies in the middle of three major cities, namely Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho and Phnom Penh (Cambodia), functions as the gateway and the centre of the Mekong sub-region, has Vinh Xuong International River Border Gate (Tan Chau district), Tinh Bien International Land Border (Tinh Bien district) and Khanh Binh National Border Gate (An Phu district). The province’s annual export turnover averages US$850 million. Its exports have reached more than 100 countries and territories.
An Giang defines border economic development as one of its key tasks. Hence, international and national border gates are invested for upgrading and expansion. With favourable conditions for trade with Cambodia on both waterways and roadway, the cross-border trade turnover amounted US$1,002 million in 2012.
Apart from featured products of traditional handicraft villages, the province also has the advantage of producing and processing agricultural products and aquatic products like rice, fish and vegetables. Currently, An Giang is enhancing the quality of agricultural products by applying certified international and national quality standards like GlobalGap and VietGap to many agricultural products, while boosting the connectivity of farmers and enterprises to better serve the market and increase values.
Especially with characteristically advantageous natural terrain, the southwest province of An Giang is the leader in tourism development in the Mekong Delta. It serves over 5 million tourists a year.
Together with promoting internal resources, attracting foreign capital is an important resource for development investment. How has An Giang endeavoured to attract FDI capital? Do the achievements meet the province’s expectations? From the experience gained in FDI attraction, do you think the province needs to make changes to keep up with the new context?
Currently, An Giang province has 20 FDI projects with a combined registered capital of US$91,198,190, of which US$40,006,387 has been disbursed, accounting for 44 per cent of total registered capital. 12 projects have gone into operation and eight are underway. In general, these projects have so far been implemented smoothly and no problems have emerged during this process. Nevertheless, economic crisis has impacted production and business operations, as well as construction progress.
An Giang province determines that foreign investment is an important resource for promoting local socioeconomic development, but it cannot choose to attract foreign investment at any cost by issuing local policies contrary to the overall provisions of the Central Government or to international commitments on trade and investment. Therefore, to lure FDI in the upcoming time, I think the province should focus on synchronous infrastructure development, especially transport infrastructure like bridges, roads, ports and airports, as well as create ready land funds for investors by forming industrial zones and economic zones.
Moreover, the social infrastructure must be properly cared. Particularly, human resources training for service with foreign investors must be based on specific planning and orientation. Investment policies should be stable enough and avoid frequent changes. If any change is made to investment policies, it must take into account the duration for investors to adapt to. Besides, the province needs to continue to review and update the list of projects in need of investment capital.
At present, An Giang is catching the attention of many Japanese investors. Could you tell me more about this success? When investing in an industrial park or a locality, apart from required factors for good production, Japanese companies often choose places deemed to provide good livelihoods for their professionals and workers. So far, how has the province made this preparation?
Up to now, An Giang province has three Japanese projects: including ANGIMEX - KITOKU Co., Ltd - a joint venture between An Giang Import Export Joint Stock Company (Angimex) and Kitoku-Shinryo Company Ltd (Japan); and a branch project of KUBOTA Vietnam Co., Ltd. In addition, the province is negotiating with two heatproof material production projects in Tan Trung Industrial Complex (Phu Tan district) and a project which is studying manufacturing biofuel from catfish fat, invested by Yanmar Company of Japan.
From what it has already achieved, the province has focused traffic infrastructure investment to facilitate the circulation of goods, and performed administrative reform towards a single-window mechanism. The province will provide procedural support for investors until their projects go into operation. Furthermore, the province pays attention to human resources training to meet the demand of investors.
To meet living conditions for professionals and workers, we are also trying our best to provide and upgrade leisure and entertainment services. Featured projects for this purpose included Alphanam Golden City - a 75-ha cultural, sports, service, exhibition and residential complex in My Hoa Ward, Long Xuyen City invested by Alphanam Investment Joint Stock Company; and the 2.2-ha Star World An Giang Project invested by Phuoc An Production Trade Co., Ltd ; and West Hau River Township Project. In health field, the province has concentrated on building district-level hospitals. It has brought into service Chau Doc General Hospital and is constructing the 600-bed An Giang Central General Hospital. These facilities will provide better healthcare services for specialists and workers.
Japanese enterprises tend to seek investment opportunities in the province. So, does An Giang intend to invite Japanese companies to a Japanese-only industrial zone?
In addition to operational Long Binh and Binh Hoa industrial parks, An Giang province is currently planning and investing four centralised industrial parks, namely expanded Binh Hoa Industrial Park (100 ha), expanded Binh Long Industrial Park (100 ha), Hoa An Industrial Park (100 ha) and Vam Cong Industrial Park (200 ha). The province has also focused on investing in small-scale industrial complexes, and completing technical infrastructure for its border economic zone to invite domestic and foreign investors, especially Japanese.
In the long term, the province will consider building an industrial park specifically dedicated to Japanese enterprises, in the appropriate time.
In the upcoming time, how will An Giang change to become an ideal destination for investors in general and Japanese investors in particular, especially in public administration reform, infrastructure system and human resources?
According to the five-year An Giang socioeconomic development plan from 2011 to 2015, plus Decision 01/QD-UBND dated January 4, 2011, An Giang province specifies six key programmes. The province has made a review on the first two years of implementation of these six programmes, especially public administration reform programme and human resource development programme.
In the coming time, An Giang will pay more attention to administrative reform, apply "one stop shop" or "single-window" mechanism, review and reform administrative procedures towards simplicity and ease of use, and accelerate the decentralisation of investment powers to boost autonomy, creativity and responsibility of each unit.
Together with human resource quality improvement, the province improves and develops infrastructure systems, particularly traffic infrastructures like roads, bridges, ports and airports in accordance with development plans, and invests to build infrastructure for industrial parks, border gate economic zones, and tourist sites.
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