Thai Nguyen: New Growth Pole

4:30:18 PM | 19/2/2019

In 2018, Thai Nguyen province has implemented many solutions, concentrating all resources to speed up the economic and social development and achieve positive results, completing all socio-economic development targets, maintaining a high growth momentum, thereby gradually establishing a new growth pole of the region and the country.

Many imprints in the banner year

In 2018, Thai Nguyen province has risen to gain many important results. All targets of the plan were achieved and exceeded with Gross Regional Domestic product (GRDP) increasing by 10.44%, higher than the national average. The economic structure has continued to shift clearly, in the direction of rapidly increasing the proportion of industry - construction (accounting for 56.96%), and reducing the proportion of agricultural - forestry – aquatic products (11.12%). The industrial production value reached over VND670 trillion, ranking first in the Midlands and Northern Mountainous Region and second in the Capital Region. The service activities were improved with export value of over US$25 billion, up 10.2% compared to 2017; budget revenue reached over VND15 trillion, an increase of 14.4% compared to the estimate. The province has strived to balance revenue and expenditure by 2020 and has a surplus to contribute to the State budget.

In 2018, Thai Nguyen also deployed, completed and put into use many key projects, opening up opportunities for investors. The new rural construction program has continued to achieve good results; so far, the whole province has 87 communes recognized as new rural communes, 03 district units with 100% of communes meeting new rural standards. The number of new workers having new jobs increased to 18,000 people. Defense and security were consolidated and strengthened, foreign affairs continued to be effectively implemented; security and order was guaranteed.

The results achieved in 2018 will make an important contribution to the successful implementation of the Resolution of Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee for the term of 2015-2020: Making Thai Nguyen soon become an industrial province; the center of the Midlands and Northern Mountainous Region for industrial, service, health and education development.

Acceleration

Determining 2019 as a particularly important year, a breakthrough year decisive for the success of the whole term, Thai Nguyen provincial authorities have been focusing on promoting the economic restructuring in association with the growth model, improving the quality of growth, labor productivity and competitiveness of the economy; synchronously and aggressively implementing strategic breakthroughs; continuing to improve the business investment environment, promoting economic growth, business development, supporting small and medium enterprises, cooperatives and individual business households; enhancing the attraction of foreign investment, focusing on the fields of manufacturing and production by modern and advanced technologies; promoting high-tech, environmentally friendly applications associated with the development of supporting industries and agriculture; supporting domestic enterprises to join global value chains of corporations and FDI enterprises.

At the same time, the province will focus on mobilizing investment resources, speeding up the implementation of key and urgent projects, especially projects that have been signed for investment. Thai Nguyen will prioritize investment in infrastructure development; creating the most favorable conditions for investors to develop industrial, transport, tourism, commercial and urban infrastructure.

At the Thai Nguyen Investment Promotion Conference 2018, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized three key areas that Thai Nguyen needed to pay attention to: "Samsung - Ho Nui Coc - Thai Tea”. This is also the development strategy of Thai Nguyen.

Thai Nguyen is oriented to become an industrial development province. Thai Nguyen industry is developing well through the great contribution of Samsung Complex with modern technology, advanced management level and high value products. Thai Nguyen prioritizes to attract hi-tech enterprises, and those producing high value-added products; industries having ability to deeply participate in global production networks and value chains; having fundamental meaning, spreading impacts on other economic sectors of the province; and at the same time ensuring the requirements of environmental protection, national defense and security, in line with the country's industrial development orientation in Resolution 23-NQ/TW dated March 22, 2018 of the Politburo.

Thai Nguyen continues to open up resources to invest in tourism development; which focuses on developing tourism industry. It will exploit the potential advantages that nature bestows on Thai Nguyen, in which the highlight is Ho Nui Coc tourism site, and other sites connecting with ATK Dinh Hoa special national historical relic.

The province will also increase added value of Thai Nguyen Tea products, which have been branded, especially through the three tea festivals. Thai Nguyen will try to create high value products from tea trees, helping farmers become rich from this tree. In addition, it will promote the development of organic agriculture, high-tech applications in the agricultural sector, creating effective links between agricultural products and the processing industry.

Improving the business environment is a key task

Thai Nguyen has aggressively built up a government of creativity, integrity, action, taking businesses and people as service objects, facilitating enterprises to invest, do business and develop; ensuring equal rights for all businesses. So far, the province has a total of over 6,100 enterprises with a total registered capital of VND80 trillion, 900 investment projects with non-budget capital.

In recent years, Thai Nguyen has been consistently ranked among the top group of the country in terms of the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) and Public Administration Reform Index (PAR). According to the survey results of VCCI, the quality of economic management of the province has improved, enterprises have become more optimistic, believing in business prospects so the rate of business expansion has increased, the number of enterprises reducing scale or closing down has been very low; especially FDI enterprises have continued to increase investment capital and production scale. Enterprises have also highly appreciated the reduction of administrative burden on business registration, social insurance, taxes and labor.

At the Thai Nguyen Investment Promotion Conference in 2018, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said: "Thai Nguyen can become a new growth pole of the North and the whole country, driven by its potential advantages and new opportunity.”

Particularly for PCI in three consecutive years (2014, 2015, 2016), Thai Nguyen was ranked among the top 10 provinces and cities in the country. In 2017, PCI of the province ranked 15 out of 63 provinces and cities but rose to reach 64.45 points, higher than 2016 of 2.63 points and the highest ever. Among the 10 component indexes of PCI, in 2017, there were six increased indices (access to land, transparency, government dynamics, business support services, labor training, legal institutions and security and order) and four declined indices (market entry, time costs, informal costs, fair competition). Although there were four declining indices, the number of decreased points was not much, while the six increased indices were quite high, so the total score still increased and higher than the average level. The difference between Thai Nguyen and the scores of five provinces and cities in the top group was only from 2-6 points.

In the coming time, the province will make more efforts to continue improving the quality of economic management. For the low indices, it is necessary to focus on reviewing and analyzing the causes to find remedies, while high indices need to be maintained to increase next year.

Actively supporting businesses to integrate

Over the past years, Thai Nguyen has the potential and the strong growth thanks to catching up the trend of development and integration to shape the direction, creating the power to synthesize many resources. Thai Nguyen people with open and friendly hearts have turned the land into a convergence of many leading corporations in the world, connecting products in the Tea homeland to the global value chain. With the commitment to accompany and create the best conditions for investors, Thai Nguyen province has strengthened the organization of dialogue programs; holding regular meetings with FDI enterprises.

In the future, along with promoting information about potential and opportunities; paying attention to the requirements of investors, creating opportunities for investors to learn and implement investment projects, the province will continue to well implement the administrative procedure reforms, creating an open and favorable environment; proactively making commitments to show responsibility and transparency in implementing procedures to support investors.

Thai Nguyen will focus on attracting investment in developing infrastructure of industrial zones and industrial clusters. The province will also focus on supporting small and medium enterprises in capital, technology, information, investment environment; prioritizing industrial promotion funding for investment support and development of industrial products, new technologies, craft industry and craft villages in rural areas.