Appealing outlook

Determined to develop Long An into a potential, friendly and equal investment environment, the Department of Planning and Investment, as a lead investment advisory, has actively worked with relevant agencies to appraise and submit investment projects to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration and ratification. The department has actively advised on investment flows for economic fields to reduce pressures on public investment and improve the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI).

With its efforts, the province’s industrial production index in the first four months of 2022 climbed 5.32% year on year, driven by the processing and manufacturing sector which grew by 5.61%; the electricity production and distribution sector by 0.89%; the water supply and wastewater treatment sector by 0.16%. The province allocated VND6,373.9 billion of public funds for projects in 2022. Long An witnessed 594 new businesses registering VND8,574 billion of capital in the four-month period, up 4% in enterprises from a year earlier. The province also licensed 45 new projects with a combined registered capital of VND12,114.6 billion, down 12 projects but up VND8,664.49 billion in value from a year ago.

To date, Long An province has 22 industrial complexes with 662 projects which hired ​​783.6 ha of land or 90.5% of the rentable area (calculated on commercial land with completed infrastructure). In the first four months, the total retail sales of goods and services were estimated at VND36,141 billion, fulfilling 33.7% of the plan and rising 6.6% over the same period. The export value climbed 8.6% to US$2,356.7 million, equal to 36.8% of the full-year plan. The import value was estimated to fall 14.6% year on year to US$1,529.2 million, reaching 30.5% of the plan.

“The province also drastically carried out Plan 57-KH/TU on implementation of Directive 03-CT/TW of the Party Secretariat on strengthening Party leadership in the ‘Buy Vietnamese’ campaign in the new context; launched the response plan for the National Brand Week to celebrate ‘2022 Vietnam Brand Day - April 20’; supported local businesses to participate in the Tu Son Supermarket Weekend in An Giang province, Chau Doc An Giang Fish Sausage Festival - a regional specialty in 2022. Furthermore, the province continued to intensify the fight against smuggling and commercial fraud to have the best trade market management”, said Mr. Huynh Van Son, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment of Long An province.

Tapping the potential

Long An is also known to have relatively diverse and abundant tourism resources (landscape, climate, ecology, rivers, historical and cultural relics, festivals and traditional handcrafts), including Dong Thap Muoi wetland ecosystem, Vam Co River landscape (Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay). Notably, Long An province has become the 130th official member of the Tourism Promotion Organization for Asian-Pacific Cities (TPO) since February 26, 2021. This is an opportunity for the locality to integrate more deeply into the world, especially into Asia - Pacific, one of the most dynamic and innovative economic regions in the world. In Vietnam’s tourism development planning, Long An is also defined as one of the important eco-tourism sites in the southern tourist region. In addition to applying tourism development guidelines and policies, Long An has actively carried out promotional activities to attract domestic and international tourists and investors.

To fulfill the 5-year target (2021-2025), secure a high or very high ranking in the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) and maintain investment growth of 10% in 2022, Long An province will continue to effectively implement restructuring solutions and focus on developing supporting industries, processing industry (agricultural and fishery) and energy industry. Especially, it will further call for more development investment in commercial infrastructure and logistics services and create a driving force for the development of modern and civilized trades. “The province's goals are not only to revive the economy in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic but also secure the leadership in the Mekong Delta, maintain its significant contribution to the development of the southern key economic region,” said Director Son, adding that “Of course, in this cause, Long An will need many practical solutions, with the most important being the reform of administrative procedures, the improvement of the investment environment, the availability of price-competitive land fund for industrial projects. The province always takes good care of investors and regards them as a resource and driving force for development. The success of the business is an encouragement for Long An province to work better while the difficulty of the business is the difficulty of provincial leaders.”