Like many other localities across the country, due to the return of the Covid-19 pandemic and its complicated developments, 2021 is a very difficult time for promotion agencies across the country and the Kien Giang Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center is not an exception. The pandemic has directly affected investment promotion, production, business and consumption of local enterprises and delayed, scaled down and postponed many investment, trade and tourism promotion activities. Many training and investment support programs could not be implemented as planned.

Fortunately, all the staff of the Kien Giang Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center has striven to perform well their assigned professional tasks. Anticipating likely difficulties in the way, the center has actively carried out focused and important promotion tasks; actively developed scenarios to review, revise and propose measures to devise promotion plans in line with the actual reality, pandemic evolution and keep all tasks fulfilled on schedule.

Strengthening trade and investment promotion

In addition, the center has regularly cooperated with other agencies, localities and the business community to foster promotion; focused on researching and updating market information, improved the effect of information, communications and promotional events on mass media and e-commerce sites; and applied Technology 4.0 to its work. Besides, the agency has frequently arranged online meetings with foreign promotion agencies and diplomatic missions in Vietnam and enterprises in Mekong Delta provinces and cities, in Vietnam and in foreign countries; supported and facilitated the business community to attend promotion events to introduce their image, potential, strengths and brands, seek opportunities for trade connections, open expand consumer markets, boost business and enhance investment inflows.

With the efforts of all the staff, in 2021, the center has carried out 30 activities, more than the plan of 26 activities, or fulfilling 115% of the yearly plan, including seven promotion events (six planned) in the province, seven promotion events (nine planned) in other provinces and 12 promotion-related events (five planned) and four communication events (six planned). Regarding investment promotion, the center has worked with the Department of Planning and Investment to review the list of projects seeking an investment fund in Kien Giang province in the 2021-2025 period; coordinated with relevant agencies and localities to advise the Provincial People's Committee to devise the Investment Promotion Program for the 2021 - 2025 period and an edition for 2022 and send them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment; cooperated with the Kien Giang Economic Zones Authority to attend the Vietnam Industry Development Investment Pavilion at the Vietnam Expo 2021. The center cooperated with concerned bodies and localities to report the province’s Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) performances in 2020 and submit solutions for a better PCI in 2021 to the Provincial People's Committee; advised the committee to open an online conference on Kien Giang PCI analysis in 2020; completed the draft report on PCI performances in 2016-2020 and directions and tasks for the 2021-2025 period and submit them to the Provincial People's Committee.

The center has also actively cooperated with agencies and localities to guide and support investors to survey capital-needed investment projects in the province; introduce investment projects and related information to domestic and foreign investors. Investment data are published on the website: www.kiengianginvest.com. In addition, the agency has joined hands with many domestic investors to survey tourism and urban development investment projects in Rach Gia City, Phu Quoc, Ha Tien and Kien Luong district.

On trade promotion, the Kien Giang Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center has regularly contacted promotion agencies, foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam, companies in Mekong Delta, and foreign and domestic trade associations to help enterprises seek for business opportunities and increase product output. Specifically, it advised the Provincial People's Committee to coordinate with the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City and the government of Odisha State (India) to open an online conference on “Kien Giang and Odisha cooperation in agriculture and fisheries” and a business matching program for seven agricultural and fishery enterprises in Kien Giang province with partners in Odisha. It also assisted local companies to attend the OCOP Product Festival 2021 in An Giang province to showcase locally distinctive products; cooperated with foreign trade promotion agencies in Vietnam, investment, trade and investment promotion centers in other provinces and cities nationwide to support it to introduce and link with an e-commerce website, www.kiengiangpromotion.vn; enhanced online promotion events to boost product exchange; and called for tourism investment development projects.

For the local market, the center has cooperated with agencies and trade associations in the province to introduce 100 Kien Giang products needed to be sold; joined hands with local supermarkets to sell local agricultural and aquatic products (60 products made by 10 local companies have entered supermarkets); provided information on commercial OCOP products, collective brands, distinctive rural industrial products and typical products for promotion events; recommended more than 300 commercial and tourism products of more than 40 enterprises, cooperatives and business households on its website (www.kiengiangpromotion.vn); supported local businesses and cooperatives to attend 13 online conferences organized by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade), the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC), and the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center (Agritrade) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; and helped them promptly update information, grasp market situations, expand cooperation opportunities, strengthen connections to find output markets for agricultural and aquatic products.

Tourism promotion

Tourism is one of the major concerns for development in Kien Giang province, aimed to be made a key economic sector. To widely introduce local tourism potential and strengths, the Kien Giang Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center has regularly cooperated with related bodies to conduct tourism survey delegations to localities (community tourism, agricultural tourism, countryside tourism and cultural tourism while introducing local tourism, connecting routes and tourist attractions. It has joined hands with provincial and local agencies to develop a tourism promotion plan for 2020 and toward 2025 in Kien Giang province and submit it to the Provincial People's Committee; developed a communication plan to attract international air tourists to use "vaccine passports"; coordinated with central and local media agencies to publish tourism publications and launch seminars and video clips about Kien Giang tourism potential and strengths to tourists far and wide.

In the past year, despite certain difficulties and limitations in the way  and complicated and prolonged pandemic evolution, the Kien Giang Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center has made every effort to achieve very encouraging results; boost investment, trade and tourism activities in the province; create a solid foundation for implementation of investment, trade and tourism promotion activities in 2022 in a safe and effective manner, and turn the province into an attractive destination by realizing the dual goal of socioeconomic development and disease control in the new adaptive context.