Could you tell us about the improvement of Ninh Thuan's recent administrative reform?

Ninh Thuan province has made significant strides in strengthening its administration and accelerating administrative reform, with a particular emphasis on administrative procedure reform. These efforts aim to enhance the execution of Party and State guidelines, policies and laws, while simultaneously creating favorable conditions for investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses. The province has placed individuals and businesses at the heart of its services. Each year, the Provincial People’s Committee issues action plans to implement the Government’s resolutions on primary tasks and solutions for improving the business environment and enhancing national competitiveness. This is considered one of the key political tasks in the province’s administration. The province has focused on reforming administrative procedures, overcoming bottlenecks in institutions, human resources, infrastructure and land access, and ensuring increased transparency and access to resources for the business community. It has resolved difficulties and obstacles, creating a favorable and stable investment environment for enterprises and investors. It has also reformed and improved the quality and effect of investment promotion and investment introduction. The Provincial Public Administrative Service Center, in particular, has facilitated and reduced the time of settling administrative procedures for individuals and businesses. This improved business environment has helped attract more investment funds and mobilize more investment resources for development. The Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) has seen improvements in both score and rankings, contributing significantly to fostering socioeconomic development.

However, there are areas that require further improvement. Business support, especially in land access and site clearance, remains challenging and ineffective. Administrative procedure reform in some areas is progressing slowly. Coordination among agencies and branches of authority to troubleshoot problems faced by enterprises needs to be strengthened. In some places, public employees need to be more proactive in solving problems for individuals and businesses.

In response to these challenges, the Provincial Party Committee issued Directive 18-CT/TU on November 11, 2021. This directive from the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee calls for continued strengthening of leadership at all levels in implementing PCI improvement solutions in the 2021-2025 period. Following this, the Provincial People’s Committee issued an action program for the implementation of Directive 18-CT/TU, aiming to increase Ninh Thuan’s PCI score to 65 - 66 points and rank the province among the top 15 provinces and cities in the country. The province’s PCI score is expected to increase by 0.5-1.0 points per year.

In 2023, the province launched the Ninh Thuan Investment, Trade, and Tourism Promotion Center to provide additional support for businesses to complete project investment procedures and overcome difficulties in project implementation.

Business performance continues to be strengthened and developed. The center has succeeded in attracting many large, renowned investors into fields where the province has advantages, especially renewable energy, tourism, and real estate projects. These include Trung Nam Group, BIM Group, Ha Do Group, Crystal Bay Group and Nguyen Hoang Group. Some projects have a registered investment capital of over VND1,000 billion, such as Trung Nam Group with VND4,726 billion, Xuan Thien Ninh Thuan Joint Stock Company with VND1,800 billion, ACT Holdings Joint Stock Company with VND1,585 billion, and CMX Resunseap Vietnam Solar Power Joint Stock Company with VND1,065 billion. Some projects have achieved global and regional branding and competitiveness. For instance, Amanoi Resort was voted by Forbes Life Magazine (USA) as one of the Top 10 most charming destinations in the world.

Ninh Thuan Provincial People's Committee awards 7 investment registration certificates and 7 project development research memoranda, totaling more than VND120 trillion, to 14 domestic and foreign investors

How has Ninh Thuan's PCI been improved recently? What specific directions and solutions has the province adopted to further raise its position on the PCI rankings?

Recognizing that enhancing the business and investment environment and elevating the PCI is a critical political task requiring the synchronous and determined participation of the entire political system, the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee issued Directive 18-CT/TU on November 11, 2021. This directive focuses on strengthening the Party’s leadership in implementing solutions to improve Ninh Thuan province’s PCI for the 2021-2025 period. Following this, the Provincial People’s Committee also issued an action program to execute Directive 18-CT/TU. As a result, the PCI Index has seen continuous improvement. In 2022, it ranked 30th out of 63 provinces and cities. By 2023, it had climbed to the 11th position, boasting the best governance quality that year.

To further elevate the PCI in the future, Ninh Thuan province has identified several key strategies. These include recognizing the importance of improving the business environment as a crucial administrative task and acknowledging the role of economic sectors, particularly the private economy, as a significant driving force for development. The province is committed to accelerating administrative reform in a determined, consistent and effective manner, and to enhancing the quality of a healthy, attractive, open and favorable business environment. Administrative reform is seen as a breakthrough stage, with immediate business support serving as the nucleus. The province aims to enhance investment attraction efficiency, clear bottlenecks, and effectively mobilize, allocate and utilize all resources.

Simultaneously, the province plans to continue improving infrastructure and enhancing human resource capacity to meet business needs. It aims to accelerate digital transformation and digital government, enhance service quality, and save costs for individuals and businesses. The province is committed to strengthening business support and building a favorable, equitable and transparent investment and business environment, with a focus on the publicity and transparency of investor-oriented sectoral development plans.

Certificates of merit are bestowed upon outstanding businesses in Ninh Thuan province, recognizing their contributions to the local economy, Jan 2024 

Recognizing the important role of external investment resources in realizing its goal of becoming a renewable and clean energy center of the country, Ninh Thuan province has been proactive in attracting investments. Would you tell us about the province’s investment attraction policies in renewable energy and clean energy sectors in the coming time?

Currently, the province is home to 37 solar power projects with a total capacity of over 2,576 MW, 17 wind power projects with a combined capacity of over 890 MW, and eight hydropower projects with an aggregate capacity of nearly 132 MW.

To achieve the GRDP growth target of 11-12%, Ninh Thuan province is focusing on developing industries with significant growth potential, particularly energy and renewable energy. These are seen as breakthrough sectors for the province due to their immense development potential and their anticipated contributions to the province’s overall growth in the coming years. Ninh Thuan plans to leverage its abundant sunshine and wind resources to develop solar power, onshore and offshore wind power, LNG-fueled power, pumped storage hydropower, and new energy sources such as hydrogen, tidal and biomass energy. Concurrently, the province aims to develop green hydrogen energy sources from self-consumed and on-site renewable energy, aligning with Vietnam’s commitments at the COP26 Conference.

On this basis, the Provincial People’s Committee has requested relevant agencies to review existing issues, devise prompt solutions and expedite project progress. It has also recommended competent authorities to issue a new policy on solar and wind power pricing, prioritizing the development of renewable and clean energy to ensure sustainable development and effectively utilize local potential and advantages. This will enable Ninh Thuan to attract and implement renewable energy projects in the locality. Consequently, Ninh Thuan plans to accelerate the feeding of transitional energy projects into the 120-MW national grid, swiftly deploy the feed-in tariff (FIT) bidding mechanism, and select investors to commence projects with a total capacity of 227 MW in 2024.

Regarding investment incentive policies, Ninh Thuan has implemented policies to ensure the highest interests and the most convenient and straightforward administrative procedures for investors with projects in the province. The province has introduced the highest regulatory incentives for land lease, land grant, corporate income tax, and import and export tariffs. All districts with extremely difficult socioeconomic conditions can offer the highest regulatory investment incentives as per the 2020 Investment Law and Decree 31/2021/ND-CP dated March 26, 2021 of the Government. Industries and fields entitled to investment incentives, including renewable energy, will be entitled to incentives under the Investment Law and Decree 31/2021/ND-CP.

The province actively interacts with businesses through conferences, discussions, and investment promotion events to foster economic development

What other industries is Ninh Thuan prioritizing for investment? Besides administrative reform, how is the province enhancing infrastructure, human resources, and business support to attract investment?

In addition to renewable energy, Ninh Thuan province has identified four key industries for prioritized investment attraction in the future. These include high-quality tourism, industrial manufacturing and processing, high-tech agriculture, and the construction and real estate market.

To enhance its investment attraction capabilities, the province has adopted a multi-faceted approach. Beyond intensifying administrative reform, the province has focused on five key tasks and solutions: Mobilizing and effectively utilizing investment resources for infrastructure construction to attract investors; Improving the quality of human resources to meet the labor demand of businesses and investors; Promoting the role and responsibility of agencies, localities, and business associations in coordinating, consulting, facilitating and supporting each other to carry out assigned functions and tasks; Completing plans and increasing access to land; Synchronously and effectively applying business support policies, especially empowering digital transformation, scientific and technological application, trade promotion, industrial promotion and legal support to improve local business competitiveness.

Thank you very much!