Southern Kien Giang Province at a Glance

Kien Giang is a coastal province in the Mekong Delta region, southern Vietnam. The province is located in the most southwest of the country, bordered by An Giang and Can Tho provinces in the east and southeast, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu provinces in the south, the Gulf of Thailand in the southwest and Cambodia in the north. The geographic advantages enable Kien Giang to develop trade with regional countries and south-western provinces.

 

With a natural area of over 6,300 square kilometres, Kien Giang is known to have a diversified terrain, a long coast, many rivers, mountains and islands, which constitute four different ecological zones, namely the Ha Tien Rectangle (Ha Tien Town, Kien Luong and Hon Dat districts), the western Hau River region (Tan Hiep, Rong Rieng, Chau Thanh and Go Quao districts and Rach Gia City), the Ca Mau peninsula (An Bien, An Minh and Vinh Thuan districts) and the sea and island region (Phu Quoc and Kien Hai districts). Geographical and ecological diversity with rich natural resources enables the province to develop agriculture, fishery, exportation, tourism and service.

 

Together with the cause of the country’s industrialisation and modernisation, Kien Giang has made comprehensive changes in all aspects. After more than 20 years of doi moi (renovation), the socioeconomic aspect was uplifted to a new level, improving the standard of living, strengthening public confidence and creating a stepping stone to a new era. Taking its available potential and advantages, in recent years, Kien Giang has created new opportunities for development like investing in traffic, seaport and airport systems to link the province with south-eastern provinces, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho City. These are favourable conditions for Kien Giang to invest in socioeconomic development in general and industrial production expansion in particular.

 

Since 2001, Kien Giang has maintained high GDP growth. The growth in the 2001 - 2005 period was averaged at 11.1 per cent per annum. The GDP expansion was expected at 11.6 per cent a year on average in the 2006 - 2010 period. The province targets to drive the GDP growth to 14 - 15 per cent in the 2011 - 2015 period. The per capita GDP will reach US$1,800 a year (based on exchange rate in 1994) or US$2,464 (based on exchange rate in 2008).

 

At the same time, the economic sector has been developed toward higher proportion of industrial and service value. By 2015, the agriculture, forestry and fishery is expected to account for 29.1 per cent of the province’s GDP, industry and construction sectors 32.4 per cent, and service sector 38.5 per cent. The rice output will reach 3.5 - 3.6 million tonnes per annum.